ABOVE: Pichet Klunchun performs “Demon.” Photos: Todd Ruiz
Stomping, stalking and sweating across a spartan stage, the demon erupts from a man’s form. An outsized shadow menaces from the back wall, and it’s unclear which is mimicry. Coaxing along this transformation is the dancer’s mentor, himself a demon, whose disembodied voice intones cues from the afterlife.
That student – insurgent dance artist Pichet Klunchun – is now a master in his own right. And demon he is. Not only for the role he has worked to perfect for nearly three decades, but because he might be the most hated man by the fiercely protective classicists of khon, or Thai traditional dance.
This month Pichet, 43, is reintroducing “I am a Demon,” a solo performance he’s been loath to stage in Thailand since it debuted to widespread condemnation seven years ago.
“I think I’m a demon, but I’m a good demon,” he said, a wicked grin belying any objection to the pariah’s mantle. “People try to give me this name, like I am destroying the culture. It’s nonsense.”
The objections of his critics – the master teachers of khon – are not difficult to understand: Pichet doesn’t stick to the script. Instead, he infuses technically impeccable khon with the contemporary and post-modern. His dancers might wear wetsuits or only underwear while adapting carpal-bone-crunching classic positions to rock music.
Khon dancers typically commit to playing one of three roles – human, monkey or demon – for life. This demon’s life crusade amounts to nothing less than an attempt to save the form his critics condemn him for destroying.
“I know the demon always fights for something important,” Pichet said in an article published last year. “He is passionate, proud, precise and focused, but he always loses. … As a demon dancer, I will always lose and upset the world – yet I keep dancing.
Instead of falling into irrelevancy as a flash-frozen relic, khon and its language of movement – originally intended only for the royal court – must be retranslated for a 21st Century audience, he said, bringing it to a place where the demon wins, and the “Asian classical form is seen as a passionate focus to alter the world.”
“Demon” was written after the death of Pichet’s master, Chaiyot Khummanee, who saw a demon’s form in the short legs and long back of a 16-year-old boy from Chachoengsao. The performance summons Chaiyot through video and voiceover into a dialog with his former student. Visually, the show presents a stripped-down khon which eschews costume and mask in favor of simple briefs in order to accentuate muscle, skin and sweat.
“In Thai classical performance, there is a lot of beauty, and beauty is perfect. But for today, is it enough?” Pichet said after Saturday’s premiere. “I just want to show you naked Thai classical dance. What it looks like.”
Those who advocate classicism see khon as an inviolable form of proud cultural tradition and any modification as heresy. In one recent production, Pichet’s troupe rendered a story of Ganesh three times on three stages. An unimpeachable classic format was followed by a modern, glam abstraction. The third iteration devolved into a spectacular, gonzo fever of post-modern theatre and satirical commentary. There was even some manic Gangnam Styling to resuscitate the comatose “body” of Thai society with the healing power of K-Pop. It failed.
The size and positive response of that audience surprised Pichet and provided a form of validation he’s mostly received from only foreign audiences.
In a kingdom riven by social and cultural identity politics, the Bangkok art establishment has shied from pushing the boundaries of its aesthetic conversation. But there seems to be a thaw under way. It’s driven by the growth of a domestic audience which is now pressing artists to expand those boundaries, Pichet said, creating the opportunity for “I am a Demon” to return to Thailand.
“If the audience change their minds, and they understand more and more, then it means my work and my idea about the direction of the work is right,” he said. “Little by little, it’s changing.”
“I am a Demon” continues for three more showings this month at 8pm on Saturdays at Pichet’s suburban Chang Theater. Each show is followed by a discussion with the artist. For those interested in conventional khon, his dance company will premiere “Ganesh” at 2pm this Saturday afternoon and twice weekly thereafter for a three-month engagement.
The theater only seats 30, so tickets should be reserved at 080 924 0002. For more information visit Pichet’s website.
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