The festival will be in the mall’s Event Hall.

There’ll also be fun and activities and interesting discussions, including a talk on “Sufficient Living” by Jon Jandai, who leads the life he’s advocating (September 21 at 2pm).

Autthapol “Tee the Voice” Chaisiri will be singing royal compositions  (September 21 at 1pm and 6pm). There’s a workshop on painting chrysanthemums in watercolours (daily from 11am to 8pm).

And you can watch chefs demonstrating how to use healthy avocado in all sorts of dishes (September 21 at 10pm and 5pm).

Visitors can sample avocado-flavoured ice cream and buy the fruit fresh or processed, along with other produce from the Royal Projects, including macadamia nuts and coffee, plus handicrafts from Doi Tung.

Avocado ice cream is as healthy as can be, but other temptations will be Avocado and Sweet Corn Salad with Shrimp in a special sauce, Avocado Spicy Salad with Tasmanian salmon in a tangy tamarind sauce.

Avocado Spring Rolls and Grilled Chicken mix various culinary notions – a European salad, flavours of the Thai Northeast, and Vietnam’s delicate spring roll topped with mayonnaise-namtok sauce and sprinkled with popped rice.

Avocado with Gruyere Cheese on Crispy Toast has a dusting of cheddar powder on top and the baked result is rich and aromatic.

Having four classical ballet productions by two award-winning Russian companies kick off Bangkok’s 19th International Festival of Dance and Music and celebrate the 120th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations is an understandable strategy. After all, even before the festival’s organiser, International Cultural Promotions (ICP) started Southeast Asia’s most expensive international performing arts festival in the late 1990s, they were already leading the way in bringing world-renowned Russian ballet companies like the Bolshoi to the City of Angels.

On Monday night, the Ekaterinburg Ballet returned to the festival stage with “Katya and the Prince of Siam”. The ballet, now two years old, is based on the romantic relationship between Prince Chakrabongse Bhuvanath, King Chulalongkorn and Queen Sri Bajarindra’s fourth child, and Russian nurse Ekaterina “Katya” Desnitskaya whom he met and married in St Petersburg.

It was a fitting diplomatic choice, especially as the ballet finishes at the point where she was welcomed into the royal household rather than with their divorce some years later. It was also a reminder of why Thai nationals, unlike nationals of other countries, are not required to apply for a Russian visa, and vice versa.

In the title roles, respectively Nadezha Ivanova and Kirill Popov excelled in both their movement and characterisation. The audience could feel the true love, which transcended distance and many other obstacles. The pair was well supported throughout the two-act 100-minute performance by the energy of the company’s corps de ballet. But while composer Pavel Ovsyannikov’s music had a minimal flavour of classical Thai music, Vasiliy Medvedev’s choreography and Dmitriy Cherbadji’s set and costume designs were major setbacks to the piece.

Whenever Medvedev attempted to fuse classical Thai dance with classical western ballet, the result was such an Asian hodgepodge that a sense of “Orientalia” – the ever-exotic and unknown Orient – instead of Thai delicateness, filled the stage. The audience was reminded of Vaslav Nijinsky in “La danse Siamoise” and Jerome Robbins’s choreography for “The King and I” musical, both of which predated this age of information technology that so ably supports any artistic and cultural research. And with the close relationship that exists between the two countries, one has to wonder how this choreography could have been different had there been artistic contribution from Medvedev’s Thai counterparts. Two names immediately come to mind – Naraphong Charassri and Pichet Klunchun – and any Thai could have warned Medvedev that we do not wai our king and queen the same way we do others.

Likewise, more collaboration between the two nations’ artists would have changed Cherbadji’s mind about putting demon images in the Siamese court – the Russian designer probably hasn’t noticed that we moved them from the arrival lounge to the departure lounge of Suvarnabhumi Airport. Throughout history, Thai arts have been influenced by the cultures of neighbouring countries – as well as the West during the era in which the ballet was set – but they have also developed certain characteristics that are uniquely Thai. Had Cherbadji conducted indepth study and research and consulted Thai experts, his design would not have looked quite so pan-Asian.

The audience’s disappointment was wiped away two evenings later when the same company staged “Cinderella”, or another version of “The Prince and I” tale, with refreshingly new choreography and production design. Surprises were aplenty. In the opening scene, the audience saw Cinderella’s two sisters doing exercises in brightly coloured tights and wearing headphones in a modern condominium unit and later the prince made his first appearance in the TV news on a giant LED screen. We witnessed a fine blend of classical ballet and ballroom dance in the prince’s birthday ball and the use of Google Earth to find the woman whose foot would fit the shoe, notwithstanding the longer-than-necessary scene with the fairy and the slight clumsiness of the set and props movement.

Eclipsing even the chemistry of their counterparts in “Katya and the Prince of Siam”, Ekaterina Sapogova’s Cinderella was subtle and credible when she was forced to do all the housework and chic and elegant when she charmed the prince with eyeglasses – Ilia Borodulin who was always very likeable – with her dance at the ball.

A reminder to any producers that the Thai audience loves watching surprising adaptations of familiar tales, this “Cinderella” is definitely a highlight of this year’s festival.

That same afternoon, one of the festival’s sponsors, Bangkok Bank, hosted a charity performance of “Cinderella”, with different dancers in the principal roles as seen in the photos here, for underprivileged children and students from many institutions who otherwise would never be able to afford tickets, despite the festival’s current 30-percent student group discount.

I’m not the only audience member who wishes other sponsors would consider doing the same, not just as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities but also to support the festival’s audience development.

That said, there are also other ways to make student tickets really affordable. Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF), now in its 45th edition, offers 50-percent discount on all ticket prices of all shows, with sponsors and donors supporting the price differences. Plus, it has a year-round paid membership programme, also substantially supported by sponsors and donors, for high school and university students which prepares them, with lectures, workshops and other activities, for the main festival when they can also attend dress rehearsals of many works.

Opera, contemporary dance productions and jazz concerts are not in this year’s lineup, which is dominated by classical ballet, and we can assume that we won’t get to watch any imported western operas here this year, given that the festival is the sole importer. In addition, many of the productions and companies from previous festivals are on the programme. And this makes the 2017 edition look like a retrospective before the big 20th anniversary next year when we can expect more surprises.

And in comparison to festivals of the same scale elsewhere, our relatively young festival welcomes more repeat companies and productions than all of them, much like Bangkok itself, which is always welcoming repeat visitors.

On the other hand, if you missed them last time they were here, it’s a good opportunity to watch — or if you prefer, rewatch — “Flying Superkids” from Denmark, “Peter Marvey’s Magic Show” from Switzerland and “West Side Story” from the US, all of which are now touring in the region.

Otherwise, “Torero” and “Carmen” by Antonio Andrade Flamenco Company look promising as does the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra whose programme appears less predictable than that of the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra.

Personally I am looking forward to the contemporary ballet “Beauty and the Beast” by Malandain Ballet Biarritz from France, which promises choreography that looks as exciting as its costume and mask designs. The festival’s closing act is also a must-see, as Stuttgart Ballet makes a much-anticipated return to Thailand with John Cranko’s classical ballet “Taming of the Shrew” on October 18 and 19.

And that will eventually fortify the label of this festival, in the city where there are scores of ballet schools and zero professional ballet companies.

The 19th Bangkok’s International Festival of Dance and Music is made possible through the 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.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW

– “Bangkok’s 19th International Festival of Dance and Music” continues to October 19 at Thailand Cultural Centre’s Main Hall (10-minute walk from MRT: Thailand Cultural Centre).

– The celebration of the diplomatic relations between Thailand and Russia continues tonight 7.30pm with Bashkir State Ballet’s “Spartacus” and at 2.30pm on Sunday, “Le Corsaire.”

– Tickets for all performances are now available at ThaiTicketMajor outlets and online.

– Visit http://www.BangkokFestivals.com and on Facebook “Bangkok’s International Festival of Dance and Music” for more details.

These include some 1.5 million refugee children missing out on primary school, the report found, while two million refugee adolescents are not in secondary school.

“Of the 17.2 million refugees under UNHCR’s mandate, half are children,” said Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees. “The education of these young people is crucial to the peaceful and sustainable development of the countries that have welcomed them, and to their homes when they are able to return. Yet compared to other children and adolescents around the world, the gap in opportunity for refugees is growing ever wider.”

The report, “Left Behind: Refugee Education in Crisis”, compares UNHCR sources and statistics on refugee education with data from Unesco, the United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organisation, on school enrolment around the world. Globally, 91 per cent of children attend primary school. For refugees, that figure is far lower at only 61 per cent – and in low-income countries it is less than 50 per cent.

As refugee children get older, the obstacles increase: only 23 per cent of refugee adolescents are enrolled in secondary school, compared to 84 per cent globally. In low-income countries a mere nine per cent of refugees are able to go to secondary school.

For tertiary education the situation is critical. Across the world, enrolment in tertiary education stands at 36 per cent. For refugees, despite big improvements in overall numbers thanks to investment in scholarships and other programmes, the percentage remains stuck at one per cent.

The report calls for education to be considered fundamental to the response to refugee emergencies, and for it to be supported by long-term planning and reliable funding. It urges governments to include refugees in their national education systems as the most effective, equitable and sustainable response, and highlights some of the notable efforts made towards implementing such a policy – even in countries where resources are already stretched.

UNHCR’s report has found that the enrolment of primary-aged refugee children has risen over the past academic year, from 50 per cent to 61 per cent, thanks largely to improved policies and investment in education for Syrian refugees, as well as the arrival of refugee children in Europe, where education is compulsory. During the same time period, access to secondary education remained stagnant, with less than one in four refugee adolescents enrolling in school.

“The progress seen in the enrolment of Syrian refugee children shows clearly the potential to turn around this crisis in education for refugee children,” said Grandi. “But the abysmal level of school enrolment for refugee children living in low-income regions clearly points to a need to invest in these often forgotten host countries.”

Sixty two percent of respondents from Thailand even admitted that they have gone to a destination they have no interest in, just because someone else was willing to plan it for them.

The survey of more than 5,000 respondents aged 25-65 years old across five countries including Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia was commissioned last July to better understand attitudes towards vacation planning – whether Thais have the know-how or a genuine fear of planning, to who takes charge and how much time is invested in making plans.

“We were shocked to find that there’s a growing trend of Thais who are short changing themselves when it comes to getting the most from their annual leave, given that they work so hard to earn it,” commented Chris Thomas, regional marketing director of Beringer Vineyards.

“In response to the findings, Beringer has launched a campaign on the world’s largest travel site TripAdvisor, to inspire a holiday planning revolution. We want people to see that making vacation planning a social occasion is the way forward. A little bit of planning can have a huge impact on the kind of holiday you experience and it’s well within everyone’s reach. We believe that vacation planning is always better when shared with others over a glass of wine,” added Thomas.

Survey findings also revealed that 31 per cent of Thais actually fear vacation planning, 22 per cent hate it and do their best to avoid it and 35 per cent likened vacation planning to being at work. However, 96 per cent agreed that sharing the responsibility of vacation planning makes it more likely to happen, and more enjoyable.

While well over half of Thais (66 per cent) find themselves rolling over annual leave to the next financial year, or losing it completely, a staggering 86 per cent acknowledged that they could have enjoyed more trips if only they were better at planning.

The main reasons Thais are not maximising annual leave include challenging work schedules/responsibilities (76 per cent) and conflicting schedules of travel buddies (40 per cent). Moreover, 14 per cent shared that they find vacation planning so overwhelming that they shut down completely.

Thais typically only start vacation planning just eight weeks or less before their departure date. They only spend an average of eight hours to research a destination, prepare an itinerary and secure the best deals. They admit that this last minute approach does add to their stress levels unnecessarily. Only six per cent of Thais would commit to more than seven months ahead to plan a trip.

The top three holiday regrets Thais would most want to change if they could turn back time on that holiday include better destination research (73 per cent), taking advantage of lower cost travel by booking early (64 per cent), and encouraging social planning with friends to make planning more enjoyable (39 per cent).

Meditation instruction will be provided, followed by guided contemplation and a talk by the centre’s resident meditation instructor.

The event offers a great opportunity to meditate in a supportive group setting, to learn how to apply the principles of meditation to everyday life, and to meet and mingle with fellow practitioners (bring your friends)! Both newcomers and familiar faces are welcomed and no previous experience is needed.

Admission is free though, as always, donations are appreciated.

The Bangkok Shambhala Centre is located on the second floor of the Yogatique Bangkok building, on Sukhumvit Soi 23 (BTS Asoke Station).

Find out more at http://www.Shambhala.or.th and Facebook.com/ShambhalaBangkok.

In the latest edition of the “Action Comics” series, which has published Superman’s adventures since 1938, the “Man of Steel” intervenes to stop an out-of-work factory worker as he is about to kill some immigrants.

Wearing a blue work shirt and red-white-and-blue bandana, the moustachioed cartoon villain embodies all the cliches of the poor blue-collar American.

Gun in hand, he threatens veiled women and rails at Hispanic workers, accusing them of stealing his job.

“You work cheap, don’t speak English so you can’t talk back or even ask for a penny more. You cost me my job! My livelihood! For that… you pay!” he says, as he opens fire.

Just then Superman steps in, bullets bouncing off his chest, to save the day.

“The only person responsible for the blackness smothering your soul is you,” Superman tells the white supremacist.

The passage echoes the recent violent protests by American rightwing extremists.

In August, a 32-year-old woman was run over and killed by a Nazi sympathizer after a violent “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In 2015, Dylann Roof, a white supremacist, shot and killed nine black worshipers at a Charleston, South Carolina church.

American comic books have often taken on social issues, finding up-to-the-minute material in contemporary public conflicts and debates.

Marvel Comics, for instance, launched a new version of Spider-Man in 2011, making him half-black, half-Hispanic.

In 2016, DC Comics published a seven issue mini-series called “Superman: American Alien.”

In it, Kal-El (Superman’s real name) struggles to reconcile his extra-terrestrial origins with his new life on Earth.

Superman is in effect an immigrant, who left his doomed home planet Krypton when he was a baby and was taken in and adopted by an American couple in Kansas, in the rural US heartland.

Superman’s creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, were both Jews of European descent, and Superman’s story parallels the flight of European immigrants in the 1930s seeking peace and prosperity in the United States.

“The Man of Steel,” whose caped costume is inspired by the Stars and Stripes, grows up on a farm and embodies the American dream

But Superman’s patriotism, like that of Marvel Comics’ Captain America, has been interpreted differently at the hands of the various writers who have scripted his adventures.

In the 1986 series “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns,” for example, Frank Miller presents Superman as president Ronald Reagan’s elite fighter, deployed to combat the Soviets or to restore order in the United States, neutralizing Batman.

An international jury will choose 12 submissions for further development at an “Ideas and Concepts” workshop to be held during the Bangkok Design Festival from November 17 to 19.

“Emotional Transitions” will be the theme for the workshop examining the selected projects and their technological feasibility and likely impacts on city living.

After the workshop, three of the 12 submissions will be suggested for implementation to the academy’s local and international partners.

Urban media have the ability to change the city’s visual infrastructure with screens, architecture and lighting schemes, gradually altering its pace and rhythms and the way individuals feel in a given setting.

Transitions at a macro scale affect transitions in our bodies and states of mind, how we perceive ourselves and engage with each other in the city. “Revealing these interactions and their impacts is important in understanding how we can make, manage and inhabit places,” Charles Landry and Chris Murray write in their book “Psychology and the City: The Hidden Dimension”.

So the artwork proposals have to address these “emotional transitions” in everyday life, social life, community life, work life or some other aspect. They might focus on traffic situations or the act of moving from one neighbourhood to another and encountering their diversity – or from one mood to another.

Artists, designers, architects, curators and others seeking to advance their knowledge, skills and network in urban media art are welcome to submit.

Participants will learn about methods of artistic research, concept development and artwork proposals for rendering the city more creative.

Proposals must be submitted by Friday midnight (September 15) to info@urbanmediaart.academy.

Learn more at https://goo.gl/Pab8Eo.

Facebook is also launching a new section of Safety Centre with additional resources about suicide prevention and online wellbeing. People can access tools to resolve conflict online, help a friend who is expressing suicidal thoughts or get resources if they’re going through a difficult time.

“Because of the relationships people have on Facebook, we are in a unique position to help connect those in distress with friends who can show support,” says Antigone Davis, the social network’s head of global safety.

“People’s friends are in the best position to know when they’re struggling – and speed is critical – so they can reach out directly through things like comments on a post. In many cases the combination of technology – recognising patterns in people’s comments on posts – and the compassion of people in our community can help prevent harm.”

People can reach out to Facebook when they see something that makes them concerned about a friend’s wellbeing. Facebook has teams working around the world, 24/7, who review reports and prioritise the most serious ones like suicide.

Facebook provides suggested text to start a conversation with their friend in need as well as information on how to handle the situation. The friend who has expressed suicidal thoughts is given information about local help lines, along with other tips and resources.

Facebook works with partners to collect phrases, hashtags and group names associated with online challenges encouraging self-harm or suicide. The company offers resources to people that search for these terms on Facebook, and also remove content that violates Community Standards, which don’t allow the promotion of self-injury or suicide.

“Facebook has offered tools like these, developed in collaboration with mental health organisations, for more than 10 years,” says Davis. “It’s part of our ongoing effort to help build a safe community on and off Facebook, and we hope we can continue to support those in need.”

Learn more at http://www.Facebook.com/safety

The acclaimed animation work of Japan’s Studio Ghibli has attracted the attention of Indonesians.

That work might not yet be as embedded in Indonesian pop culture as some of Japan’s other exports, such as TV series, girl groups and manga comics. But the studio’s output is globally praised and has even won Oscars.

An exhibition continuing through Sunday (September 17) at the Ritz-Carlton in Jakarta is sure to build on growing local fascination.

Among the displays in the show mounted in collaboration with an outfit called the World of Ghibli Jakarta, Marubeni and Hakuhodo, are the first 8.5 metres of Howl’s installation “Moving Castle”.

You can see a replica of Totoro and the cat-shaped Nekobus from “My Neighbour Totoro”, the Laputa robot and its Flapter from “Castle in the Sky” and the beach and aircraft from “Porco Roso”.

Totoro/The Jakata Post

Theirs is Ponyo’s wall from “Ponyo” and Baby Ohmu from “Nausica of the Valley of the Wind”.

“We want to spread the positive message of Ghibli in the Southeast Asia market, especially now, when demand for world-class exhibitions is growing,” says Ignes Dea, a company representative at the show.

“We want to show the capabilities of Indonesian and Japanese artists and to spread the values and philosophical approach that Studio Ghibli represents.”

Aware of the studio’s underdog status in Indonesia, organisers of the exhibition, which was preceded by limited screenings of the studio’s movies, aim to change that.

“Honestly, we feel that Studio Ghibli exposure in Indonesia is still quite low, and that’s why we need to make a ‘big splash’ with this exhibition, for people to recognise Studio Ghibli and the spirit it represents,” Dea says.

The organisers are confident that the values found in Ghibli films will connect with Indonesians.

“Talking about connections, a lot of Studio Ghibli movies have a philosophical approach, like nature, female heroines and the balance between good and evil, so we think it relates with many people, including the Indonesian market,” Dea says.

“For example, ‘Princess Mononoke’ is a movie about balance and conflict between nature and man, and one of the movie’s signature objects is a sacred forest. And Indonesia is home to many forests and amazing nature.”

The exhibition includes the “Mononoke Forest” installation specifically to help Indonesians understand the value of forests and nature.

Nekobus /The Jakata Post

“We want to spread a positive message about the importance of balance,” Dea says.

Many Indonesian designers were part of the exhibition. They designed the blueprints for the installations with the support and assistance of Studio Ghibli representatives.

The exhibition is an attempt to celebrate one of the world’s most-respected animation studios and one of Japan’s most recognised pop-culture exports.

“These Indonesian artists are young and talented and Studio Ghibli is very impressed with their work,” says Dea.

The blueprints were given to local vendors and production began under the close supervision of the artists and studio representatives.

Some are first-time installations that you will not see anywhere else in the world, such as the Laputa robot, which is bigger and a lot closer in interpretation to the animation, compared with the one at Museum Ghibli in Mitaka, Japan.

The Nekobus cat bus is also bigger than the one in the museum. And photographing the original Nekobus in Japan is not allowed, unlike in Jakarta.

Dea said anyone with a passing interest in Japanese pop culture should visit.

“This is a collaboration between Indonesian and Japanese craftsmanship. This is the biggest exhibition in the history of Studio Ghibli, so we want to bring the imaginative world of Studio Ghibli to life.”

Special guests included Danish ambassador Uffe Wolffhechel, Dario Reicherl, chief of Fritz Hansen Asia and Veekrit Palarit, managing director of Norse Republics. Master craftsman Hans Mannerhagen also flew in for the event and demonstrated the hand-stitching of the iconic Egg chair. The grand opening was attended by many celebrities, architects, interior designers, and fashion designers, among them Polpat Asavaprapha, Vatanika Patamasingh, Janesuda Siritant, Suquan Bulakul, Dan Hetrakul, Duangrit Bunnag, Pasu Liptapanlop, and Vasu Vrajsilp,

Founded in Denmark in 1872, the company has a long history of collaborating with leading international designers to bring their visionary concepts to life – and to the spaces they help transform. Fritz Hansen’s highly distinguished Classic collection comprises a number of the most iconic pieces of furniture from renowned Danish architects and designers, including Arne Jacobsen’s Egg, Swan and Series 7 chairs as well as the daybed line.

The Contemporary collection features new furniture and accessory designs from some of today’s most inspiring, internationally recognised modern designers including Jaime Hayon, Piero Lissoni, Kasper Salto and Cecilie Manz.

Common to the two collections is a sculptural artistic expression that blurs the lines between design and art and unites function and form in unprecedented ways, giving each work significant presence and purpose.

The store is open Monday to Friday from 10am-7pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 1pm. Call (02) 015 4164 or contact@norserepublics.com