Jérôme Bel: PICHET KLUNCHUN AND MYSELF

A Duet about Dance
Jérôme Bel, the French choreographer and dancer has been regarded for some years asone of the most successful and prominent contemporary artists in Europe. He already took part in the festival Mladi levi a few years ago with his controversial performance “The Show Must Go On”. This time, he presents an exceptional duo, which he created together with Pichet Klunchun, a traditional Thai dancer. This is a performance, where two dancers from completely different worlds talk about dance, stand still on stage, nudity, religion, fears, traditions and choreography in its pure form regarding Plato’s dialogues.
It is an amalgam of stories, intelligence, humour and beauty. Bel and Klunchun combine signs and gestures, narration and abstraction, contemporary dance and a thousand year old tradition, which is based on exact codified rules and where — as Klunchun tells and shows us — only four characters appear: a man, a woman, a demonand a monkey. Nevertheless, these four characters never die on stage, as this wouldbring bad luck.

Conception: Jérôme Bel
Performers: Pichet Klunchun & Jérôme Bel
A commission by: Tang Fu Kuen for the Bangkok Fringe Festival
Coproduction: Bangkok Fringe Festival – SACD, Festival Montpellier Danse2005, R.B. Jérôme Bel (Paris)
With the help of: AFAA, French Alliance of Bangkok, Cultural Service of the French Embassy in Bangkok, “The Flying Circus Project” in Singapore
Special thanks to: Frie Leysen, Mark De Putter
Manager: Sandro Grando
R.B. Jérôme Bel is supported by: Direction régionale desaffaires culturelles d’Ile-de-France, AFAA

105 minutes