MANY OF us still recall our favourite bedtime story not to mention our favourite storyteller, usually mum or dad. And even though we knew the story off by heart, we would ask for it every night. Once we grew up, though, we had no interest in hearing the story, at least in its children’s book form, so why is it that Thai TV and stage musical producers still think otherwise?

“La Belle et la Bete”, or “Beauty and the Beast”, is not only a tale as old as time, but as French as it could be, even though here in Thailand, we’re much more familiar with Disney’s animated film, stage musical and this year’s live action remake. Malandain Ballet Biarritz’s contemporary ballet “La Belle et la Bete”, staged last Monday, not only retold the tale, challenging our minds rather than touching our hearts, but also reclaimed it.

French choreographer Thierry Malandain had a lot of fun creating this work, but any audience member who failed to pay the Bt150 for a programme to read his foreword, synopsis and the list of Tchaikovsky’s compositions he chose for this work, would probably have been lost for a while.

While a narrative ballet, this exceptional work didn’t focus on telling the story, but instead concentrated on the duality of, and the thin line between, virtue and vice and that of soul and instincts, even though that also meant sacrificing its romantic values. Fittingly, Jorge Gallardo’s arresting set and costume designs, elegant and grand without being extravagant, chose only black, white, grey and gold, while details in patterns and textures clearly defined characters.

Three dancers who reappeared between scenes were like moderators and held frequent conversation with the audience with their dance movements.

Pne member of the trio, perhaps also a stage manager/narrotor, was meticulously drawing back curtains, through which characters sometimes slid, at different parts of the stage to show what he –or actually the choreographer Malandain –wanted to show us. This kept us curious and at the same time fully aware that this was one interpretation, among many possible others, of the tale.

“I thought it would be just another [Disney] ‘Beauty and the Beast’,” an audience member who seemed totally enthralled told me. “But, well, when it’s also part of the French embassy’s ongoing ‘French Highlights’, our expectations are always higher as we know they’ll always find a way to surprise us.”

And on that note, and considering that we’ve seen a considerable number of innovative reinterpretations of familiar tales –“Snow White”, “Cinderella” and “Romeo and Juliet” among the festival’s favourites in three consecutive years – by Malandain and Angelin Preljocaj, maybe it’s time to break away from this formula and to further develop the audience by pushing the envelope.

The genre of “nouveau cirque”, or modern circus, has significantly progressed, far beyond merely acrobatic skills, in the past decade and with its interdisciplinary collaboration with other performing arts genres, it has found a new home in dance and theatre festivals worldwide but not yet here.

Two highly acclaimed and globetrotting works, namely Compagnie XY’s “Il n’est pas encore minuit” (“It’s not yet midnight”) and Compagnie Yoann Bourgeois’s “Celui qui tombe” (“He Who Falls”), spring to mind.

The 19th Bangkok’s International Festival of Dance and Music is made possible through the kind support of Crown Property Bureau, Ministry of Culture, Bangkok Bank, Bangkok Dusit Medical Services, B Grimm Group, BMW, Dusit Thani Bangkok, Indorama Ventures, Nation Group, PTT Group, Singha Corporation, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thai Airways International and Thai Union.

CLASSICAL CLOSERS

“Bangkok’s 19th International Festival of Dance and Music” continues to October 19, at Thailand Cultural Centre’s Main Hall.

This Saturday is a concert by Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, featuring works by Liszt, Grieg and Brahms.

Next Wednesday and Thursday, thanks to the German embassy, Stuttgart Ballet make a much-awaited return to Bangkok with John Cranko’s grand version of “Taming of the Shrew” and bring the 19th festival’s curtain down.

Tickets are from Bt1,000 to Bt5,500, at ThaiTicketMajor.

Find out more at http://www.BangkokFestivals.com or join the conversation at Bangkok’s International Festival of Dance and Music’s Facebook page.

HE IS KNOWN as the master of shade, and now 21st-century technology is shedding new light on the creative process behind Caravaggio’s groundbreaking painting.

“Inside Caravaggio”, an exhibition that opened Friday at Milan’s Palazzo Reale, unites 20 of the Renaissance giant’s most important works with X-ray and infrared images of them that offer visitors revealing insights into how he went about creating them.

The multimedia displays offer contemporary fans of the father of modern painting a glimpse into his idiosyncratic technique, the points at which he changed his mind and the modifications and adjustments he made to some of his most famous works.

Works have been loaned from a string of top Italian and international museums, including the Metropolitan in New York, which has released “Sacred Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist (1604-1605)” and “Salome with the head of John the Baptist (1607 or 1610)”.

Other highlights include “St. Francis of Assisi in ecstasy” (c.1597), borrowed from the National Gallery in London.

“It is a special exhibition,” says curator Rossella Vodret. “He was a fascinating figure who never ceases to surprise us.

“Apart from offering 20 Caravaggios, which is an exceptional figure for this artist, the displays allow you to get inside his head, to relive his creative process.” In a portrait of St John the Baptist that is on loan from the Palazzo Corsini in Rome, the biblical figure is sitting and turning towards his right.

“It was not understood why he was in this position but with radiographic imaging we discovered that he was in fact turning towards a lamb, which is his iconic symbol but which the artist decided to paint over in the end,” Vodret says.

In “St Jerome in Meditation,” which usually resides in a museum at the Montserrat Monastery in Barcelona, the right leg of the elderly man was initially more exposed but finally covered up with a blanket.

The exhibition also offers a new perspective on Caravaggio’s years in Rome, based on new research that dates the Milan-born artist’s arrival in the city to 1596, four years later than previously thought.

“That means that the production of works thought to have taken eight years, were actually completed in four, and also that there is a a gap of four years, which he probably spent in prison after killing a man in Milan,” said Vodret.

Caravaggio was forced to flee Rome in 1610 after killing another man in a brawl and is thought to have died in Tuscany four years later, aged just 38.

 Talented instructors will be on hand to hold 20 free introductory workshops offering Bangkok residents and visitors the chance to get their hands messy and explore the wide array of programmes. In addition, to commemorate the passing of the late King, visitors are invited to work on a collaborative mural that will slowly reveal an image of the Late King’s face as planned by young artists.

The daylong event is open to all and will showcase all the school has to offer at its new premises, a location that encourages creativity. Conveniently located, and with the added joy of Bakers Gonna Bake Café located directly below, the School gives off the feeling that you are just at home expressing your ‘Art – tivity’.

For more information or to arrange a visit, email ParonSchoolofArt@gmail.com, call (089) 795 8765 or visit Facebook/ParonSchoolofArt and www.ParonSchoolofArt.com.

“From Tides to Heaven” shows at Jewel Zone on M floor until October 29 and features an abundance of dok dao reung (marigolds) in full bloom arranged in different forms as a tribute to the late monarch. The marigolds are yellow, the colour symbolising the late King, and are formed in the shape of number nine in Thai script by celebrated artist Chuang Mulpinit.

Other forms include s white umbrella – a symbol of greatest prestige, a white elephant  a sign of great merit and glory, and a rabbit symbolising the year of birth of the late monarch. From October 27 to 30, the public is allowed to take home a marigold plant for free.

From October 11 to 22 at its Lifestyle Hall on the second floor, noted artist Thavorn Koudomvit will present “Prostration” for which he combines graphic art and painting techniques to portray his appreciation of His Majesty’s immeasurable royal grace. In the exhibition, national artist Naowarat Pongpaiboon also shares 50 chapters of his valuable poetry work “Virtues of the Kings” which was inspired by the late King’s greatest contribution to the country.

The last in the series is a photo exhibition “Forever in Our Hearts” from October 16 to 27 at the Hall of Fame. The portraits of the late monarch captured by more than 100 photographers including Rachot Visalarnkul, Wason Wanichakorn and Chiranan Pitpreecha will be on display.

Also included in the exhibition is the exquisite handwoven Persian art carpet bearing the image of King Bhumibol, which took Iranian master Hossein Bordbar almost a year to complete. The nation’s outpouring of grief and utmost loyalty he witnessed during the passing of the King in October last year inspired him to create this masterpiece.

Sompob Butraj, Daeng Buasaen, Thanachai “Pod Moderndog” Ujjin, Manop Suwanbinta, Yossanan “Suntur” Wuthikornsombatkul, Nakrob Moonmanat, Wisanupong Noonun, and noted photographer Chamni Thipmanee and his photographer team from Chamni’s Eye are among the artists expressing their deepest loyalty through different art genres from drawings, prints, sculptures, photographs to motion pictures, music and poetry.

At the opening ceremony on October 9 at 6.30pm, national artist Naowarat Pongpaiboon will read his poem to honour the late King.

Brand-new art and creative space Yelo House is located on Soi Kasemsan 1 (BTS: National Stadium station). For more information, visit the “yelohouse” page on Facebook.

The exhibition, which runs through October 17 at the National Gallery of Indonesia in Jakarta, features seven works from the artist’s Optimism is Ridiculous series, which began in 2012 and has been featured in various galleries in Asia.

The Altarpieces is Natee’s critique of Western modernism. It is a satire of modernism and capitalism, and tells of its seduction of local customs and traditions. Consisting of a total of 12 works, the “altarpieces” are composed of multiple panels forming a diptych, triptych, or polyptych, following the tradition of classical religious paintings with elaborate frames and settings.

Natee’s interest in Western religious painting stems from his appropriative approach to classical art.

“In my paintings I offer an interpretation of the world and various beliefs that appear in the Western world from my own Asian perspective,” he says.

“Optimism Is Ridiculous: The Altarpieces” is a travelling exhibition and the National Gallery of Indonesia as its second stop. It was presented in Ayala Museum in Makati City, Philippines in February and after Jakarta will be travelling to Singapore.

The National Gallery of Indonesia is located at Jl Medan Merdeka Timur No 14, Central Jakarta, Indonesia.

For more information, visit http://www.RKFineArt.com

Andalusia-based Antonio Andrade Flamenco Company made its debut appearance at Bangkok’s International Festival of Dance and Music on September 22 with “Torera”, a new work that had its world premiere earlier this year in Malaga. This was a rare opportunity for local audiences to watch what our Spanish counterparts are also watching and applause goes to the festival’s programmer for taking a risk.

With influences from other genres, the music wasn’t entirely traditional; likewise, the strong presence of, and the dramaturgical meaning of, the bull character, interpreted by Brazilian artist Akin Santos, made this very different from other flamenco performances we’ve seen – a real treat for both ears and eyes. One setback was the fact that, except for the opening scene when the dancers were in the auditorium’s aisles, the entire performance was behind the proscenium arch, which because of the Thailand Cultural Centre’s large forestage, reduced the work’s impact.

Torera

Last Thursday, Swiss illusionist Peter Marvey made a return to the festival after five years with “WOW: World of Wonders”. Before the performance, Tony Hassin, president of International Magicians Society (IMG), was onstage to present the Swiss master with the Merlin Award for Most Original Illusionist of the Century. Later, Marvey’s wide array of tricks lived up to the show’s title and his new award, and “Wow” was among the audience’s favourites of this year’s festival.

Peter Marvey

His strong interest in levitation or flying was explained in the introductory video and evidenced in many acts including the grand finale “Icarus”. His spectacular acts with large props had a strong impact on all and Marvey charmed with his accented yet fluent Englishlanguage conversation with the audience. Plus, he invited – and he knew how to pick them in accordance with the nature and restriction of each act – men and women, adults and kids, on to the stage to experience his tricks, one of the most stunning of which was called “Three-card match”. In “Strongest Girl”, “Not too much,” he politely asked a goodlooking and physically strong audience member who seemed to be more than a volunteer participant. His strong and beautiful three dancers, or contortionists, served well as his accomplices and our distractions. His technical director was also deft in using the forestage area to make sure that Marvey’s acts, except those that should not be, were always close to the audience.

Now that the festival’s teenage years are almost over, it’s more difficult to please everyone. One festival fan was heard questioning if this has become festival of dance and magic; another wished Marvey had made a tuk tuk fly the same way he did a chariot in Zurich and Tokyo, as seen in the introduction video. That said, in a time when boundaries among performing arts genres have already blurred and our festival continues to be more diverse to attract a wider audience, performing arts may be a good substitute for dance and music in the title here.

The 19th Bangkok’s International Festival of Dance and Music is made possible through the kind support of Crown Property Bureau, Ministry of Culture, Bangkok Bank, Bangkok Dusit Medical Services, B Grimm Group, BMW, Dusit Thani Bangkok, Indorama Ventures, Nation Group, PTT Group, Singha Corporation, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thai Airways International and Thai Union.

Last four programmes

– “Bangkok’s 19th International Festival of Dance and Music” continues to October 19 at the Thailand Cultural Centre. Tonight, don’t miss Malandain Ballet Biarritz’s “La belle et la bete”. – This weekend, the international touring production of Broadway musical “West Side Story” is back in town. The Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra takes the stage on October 14, and Stuttgart Ballet’s “Taming of the Shrew” on October 18 and 19. Tickets are from Bt1,000 to Bt5,000, at http://www.ThaiTicketMajor.com.

Bangkok Art and Culture Centre’s (BACC) fourth floor studio, the main venue for its ongoing sixth annual Performative Art Festival (PAF#6), is once again opening doors and lending its support not only to professional dance and theatre groups but also less seasoned performers.

Last month, a mere five days after Anatta Theatre Group’s “Love Astray” had ended its run as the festival opener, Thammasat University’s Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts staged the documentary theatre work “The Voyage”.

Veteran director and dean of the faculty Parichat Jungwiwattanaporn pulled together four family history narratives that proved how contemporary Thai society is more multiracial and multicultural than we realise, with sociocultural links not only with neighbouring countries but also China and Indonesia. While the work sounded like a research presentation at times and occasionally looked overstaged due to the frequent accompaniment of videos and still images, “The Voyage” still delivered its point and both entertained and engaged the audience.

It made me think back to my university days when most of my classmates were choosing to major in French, German, Spanish and Japanese and ignoring Mandarin. Today the opposite is true, though many of my students are shunning Southeast Asian languages that the government is trying to promote. Going back another decade, I still recall how some Thai-Chinese classmates tried to hide the fact that they had to miss classes on Chinese New Year Day, which is now, though not officially, almost a public holiday. And when a French friend asked me to take him to Chinatown for Chinese food, I replied, “No, we don’t have to go there: just tell me what you’d like to have – we can have wonton soup at many Thai restaurants.”

While many other drama departments shun collaboration with professional artists by focusing more on their research and theories they believe in, Thammasat University’s continues to do the opposite, which was also evidenced in their annual production “Typhoon” a few years ago. It also makes sure that academia is linked with the real professional world and that their students can make a smooth transfer after graduation. Here, Silpathorn artist and B-Floor Theatre’s coartistic director Jarunun “Jaa” Phantachat and B-Floor member Wasu Wanlayangkoon lent their choreography to the physical movements, which student performers could handle without difficulty while seasoned actress Farida Jiraphan blended well with the 10-member cast.

Ending its run last night at the same venue was the revival of B-Floor Theatre’s “Ceci n’es pas la politique” (“This is not politics”) written by Pattareeya Puapongsakorn, which was awarded best original script by the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC) Thailand chapter in 2015.

Jaa didn’t simply restage this production but deftly revived it with significant changes so as to more clearly convey the main message to the audience. In the original production, the audience watched allegorical play “Chitra’s Death and the Disappearing Dogs”, in which six relatives, friends and employees of the late millionaire Chitra are all suspects in her murder for different motives. The play paused at times and the audience was asked to vote on questions both directly and indirectly relevant to the play and as a result some characters were taken off the stage while the play continued. In this revival, Jaa went further and had the lighting designer and surtitle operator removed as well, in part thanks to our votes, and as a result, our perception of the play was more highly affected.

The performance was in Thai and English with slightly different cast members, from B-Floor Theatre and other theatre groups, on alternate evenings. As I watched the Thai version last year, I chose to watch the English one this time, also inviting two Singaporean friends to come along. While all of us had a good theatre-going evening, one Singaporean theatre-goer wondered, interestingly, whether the Thai version would be more fun. The number of English-speaking stage works performed by nonnative speakers here has reached an alltime high. In this play, some cast members, like B-Floor Theatre’s Sasapin Siriwanij, were more comfortable with their second language, English, than the others, though all cast members were well united in their frequent physical movements, evidence of ample rehearsal time together.

The two visitors, who earlier that day enjoyed the automated immigration lane at our airport, were also somewhat confused when all of a sudden the lighting didn’t change and we voted without knowing what we actually voted for. After a whispered explanation, their fun continued. This was probably because the director failed to clearly introduce the lighting designer and the surtitles operator by the beginning and only diehard fans would recognise them when they were taken from their booth in the back of the audience.

Another major change was the production design. Instead of simple lines on the floor, the play featured the structure of a house with many rooms, which allowed the lighting designer, when he was still working at his booth, to play with light and shadows.

And in the end, the audience was reminded, again and more effectively now than in 2015, that in this supposedly democratic country where everyone has the right to cast their votes, all too frequently these don’t count – or are not counted properly. Also that occasionally we vote blindly without putting much thought into it, simply to exercise our right.

It also brought to mind the political turmoil we’ve been through over the years and how a number of people simply disappear – and we are not talking about those with a residence overseas and a spare foreign passport. In any case, and notwithstanding the efficiency of traditional and social media we have, we never learn the truth.

The fest rolls along!

– BACC’s “PAF#6” continues until December though at a much quieter pace this month.

– Next up is “Asiatopia: Performance workshop, public lecture and performance by Bartolome Ferrando” from October 17 to 19. Soon afterwards is Bangkok Theatre Festival 2017, the largest and most international ever in its 16-year history, from November 2 to 19.

-Find out more at http://www.BFerrando.com, http://www.BangkokTheatreFestival.com and http://www.BACC.or.th.

The event features a two-day discussion forum on December 9 and 10 and the first retrospective exhibition of internationally acclaimed textile artist Junichi Arai from December 11 to February 28.

The 2017 discussion forum will be titled “Fabpublic – Talking about Textile, Community and Public Space”. Internationally renowned artists, designers, textile specialists, curators, scholars and cultural practitioners from a wide range of disciplines and expertise will gather in Hong Kong to discuss the role of the community within contemporary living, exploring the value and impact that textiles, and their related production, can bring to traditional “brick and mortar” neighbourhoods. Speakers will also engage in and learn about the challenges in energising and reactivating communities through art and textiles

Keynote speakers include Spanish designer Alvaro Catalan de Ocon, founder of PET Lamp, an upcycling anthropological project accentuating preservation of craft knowledge and tradition; and Dutch designer Petra Blaisse, founder of Inside Outside, who works at the intersection of architecture, interior design, textiles and urban landscaping, including collaborations with Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Piper Auditorium Harvard University and Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

The discussion forum will take place at Lu Guan Qiu Lecture Theatre inside the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. It will be conducted in English. Seats are limited and registration must be completed by November 28.

The second part is the first retrospective exhibition of the textile Japanese master Junichi Arai (1932 – 2017) in Hong Kong. Titled “Self-Organisation: Junichi Arai’s Textile Anthology”, this is dedicated to honouring and presenting Arai’s lifelong efforts and achievements. The venue is the Fashion Gallery at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Deploying traditional textile-making techniques into experimental production processes, Arai is known for creating pieces that combine contemporary Western technologies with Eastern methodologies. The quality of Arai’s avant-garde craftsmanship has been recognised and led to significant collaborations with Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo (Comme des Garçons) among others.

Find out more at www.Mill6.org.hk.

Moynihan says she is honoured to have her first exhibition at Bangkok’s Cassia Gallery.

“There was no leader in the world that I admired more than King Bhumibol” she says. “He was a visionary humanitarian who devoted his life to the welfare of his people, a gifted artist who excelled in science and statecraft, and a diplomat and soldier who faithfully preserved the ancient rites of Siamese kingship.”

She was inspired to paint a series of portraits of the King working from iconic photographs that for decades have hung everywhere from Buddhist temples to markets and Thai household.

“I loved and admired Thailand’s ‘People’s King’, a catalyst of modern Asia who steered his nation through massive social, economic and political transformations, whose vision and energy made Thailand the most stable and prosperous country in Southeast Asia. When I joined the tens of thousands of Thai citizens at Sanam Luang on October 22, 2016, to sing the royal anthem under the baton of Somtow Sucharitkul, I was profoundly moved by the love and respect the Thai people felt for this great and good man,” said Moynihan.

Moynihan first visited Thailand in the 1970s when her father, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, served as the US Ambassador to India. Her love for the people and culture of Thailand continues to this day. “King Bhumibol was a great inspiration to Thai painters: after his passing on October 13th 2016 I attended many art expositions about the King throughout Thailand, and decided to express my appreciation for this unique monarch by painting my own series of portraits, which allowed me to study the astounding range of his talents and interests in greater detail; truly, his was one of the most remarkable lives of our times.”

Moynihan spent many years working with the artist Andy Warhol at Interview Magazine and “Andy Warhol’s TV”. Warhol launched Moynihan’s career as an artist and musician. She has held many art exhibitions in Asia and the USA, and recorded three albums: “Yoga Hotel”, “Bombay Superstar” and “Bangkok Taxi”, inspired by Thailand’s capital city. She has published two best-selling works of fiction and spent many years as a contributor for Radio Free Asia and the Asian Age.

Cassia Gallery is located in Sukhumvit 31. For more information, visit (02) 258 4607.