'No. 60' performed by Pichet Klunchun Dance Company (Thailand) is an Esplanade commission. It's co-produced by TPAM – Performing Arts Meeting in Yokohama and Taipei Performing Arts Center. You would have read summary of the show and watched the snippets in order to buy tickets. So we would have a general idea of what this might be about. However, reading up about 'khon' โขน would help so much our background knowledge to Thai classical dance movements.
This show combines the rhythm and movements of khon with contemporary dance, melting away the rigidity and structure of the traditional dance. There were only two dancers on stage — The khon maestro him, Pichet, and Kornkarn “Gade” Rungsawang. Multidisciplinary sound artist Zai Tang was at the side providing digital music and layering the sounds live. I was utterly mesmerised by Kornkarn's hands and fingers. She seemed to have joint hypermobility in her fingers. They could seriously bend outwards, exactly how the Thai classical dance form requires. She is a long-time collaborator with Pichet in his dances.
No. 60 is a treatise on Pichet Klunchun’s two-decade- long research on the language of traditional khon. Stripping the classical form of its face mask and sequined costume, Pichet scrutinises the 59 poses and movements in the Theppanom canon which all Thai classical dancers acquire by rote-learning. He then generates six new principles that undergird the 700-year-old system and presents a manual of hand-drawn diagrams and notes that allows the younger generation to think and learn rationally, free of mysticism and ideological imposition of history.
As No. 60 unfixes the rigidity of classicism, it also embraces the sense and soul of Thai legacy. It unfolds a complex dialogue between tradition and innovation as they inhabit and circulate within the same continuum—not as binary opposites—to inspire individual thought and motility in times of autocracy.
Complementing this performance, there was an exhibition held in Bangkok last year. 'No. 60 Exhibition/Demonstration' was held at the art museum of Chulalongkorn University in August 2020. I'd have loved to see that. This exhibition featured his hand drawings of 59 poses of the Thai 'Theppanom' movement. Most of the drawings are accompanied by brief explanations. The importance of Theppanom is to enable dancers to connect experientially with these three points of energy in the body which forms a triangle from the lower belly to the earth, to the top of the head (forehead/third eye), and from the heart to the knees. To me, this is utterly fascinating. Pichet's interpretation of No. 60 is so beautiful.
Pichet Klunchun keeps Thai classical dance close in this choreography; he has always dedicated his life's work to the remaking and renewal of khon, even as he kept to the traditional ideals and notes. Even as I call it choreography, Pichet doesn't think so. He calls it an expression of the soul. He says,
No. 60 does not have “choreography”. Instead, it consists of six major elements as principles for dancers to practise. Each dancer can create his or her own No. 60, depending on their background, experience, practice, understanding of the techniques, and each one’s viewpoint and personality. The result is a 60th pose which has a unique character of its own that reflects its creator. The heart of No. 60 is to give freedom to the art form of khon and to the dancer who learns it.
Towards the end of the 70-minute performance, the stage canopy was lowered to almost the dancers knee level. The dancers moved faster to the rhythm as well. This was the essence of No. 60. THEN THE SEATS STARTED SWAYING TOO. OMG. I wasn't prepared for that. I thought I was imagining it! The performance advisory mentioned strobe lights, but nobody mentioned about the entire seating area moving as well. They really should have put that in.
The bile rose in my throat. Motion. I felt giddy. I didn't know if vertigo was going to set in. I couldn't stay. I sat in the front row. I would have hurled up right onto the stage floor. I got up and left. Stumbled out and almost vomitted in the toilet. But the chunk of vomit held in the chest. I ended up furiously burping for 15 minutes after to get it back down into the stomach. That was a bummer. Needless to say, I didn't bother returning for the post-show talk. Ahhhhh well. At least I watched most of the performance. There might been 10 minutes to the end of the show anyway.
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