French Connection

Pichet Klunchun and Myself and The Show Must Go On

by Rachel Frankford

association r.b Pichet Klunchun and Myself (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Live Arts/Philly Fringe

When The Show Must Go On premièred in France in 2001, agitated patrons stormed the stage, and one critic reportedly slapped another. Was it the Tina Turner, or perhaps the Nick Cave number that so enraged the Parisians?

The show, one of French choreographer Jérôme Bel's two entries in this year's Live Arts Festival, uses popular music (19 songs by the likes of John Lennon, David Bowie and even Céline Dion) and a DJ to stage a number of vignettes. In one segment, dancers with headphones — and varying degrees of experience — gyrate to music only they can hear while occasionally singing out inappropriate lines in an unsuitable manner.

In contrast to this large, exuberant piece, which went on to international performances, critical acclaim and a Bessie Award in New York, Bel's second Live Arts show, Pichet Klunchun and Myself, embraces the minimalism of much of Bel's other work. Its title refers to the piece's two performers — Bel himself, and Klunchun, a Thai dancer/choreographer. The two performers mostly talk, comparing their ideas about dance and trying out steps for each other. Like The Show Must Go On, Pichet Klunchun and Myself is often very funny, although that's not Bel's intention: "I have to tell you," Bel says, "I never try to be humoristic in my work. I want to be very serious and when the performances happen, the audience laughs!"

Humor is not the only happy accident in the story of Bel's career. As a boy he wanted to be an actor, but discovered dance when he wandered into a jazz class one day. He moved to choreography in 1994. Definitely a conceptualist, Bel educated himself on the work of French theorists such as Foucault and Barthes. "I read thinkers and it helps me to understand how the world functions, so I can be more precise in my own works as choreographer," he says via e-mail.

The Show Must Go On (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

From the start, his works took place on the border of what we call dance, often exploring ordinary movements instead of dazzling technical feats. In his first work, Nom donné par l'auteur (that is, "name given by the author," i.e. the title), two men play with household objects. In Jérôme Bel, dancers examine their own naked bodies. "I see Bel making choices that highlight the performers in their own individual skin as opposed to the traditional blank-canvas dancer who is asked to sponge in movement like a robot," says Devynn Emory, one of the performers in Show.

Pichet Klunchun and Myself came to be through a series of accidents: In 2004 Bel wanted to create a piece for Klunchun, who practices the traditional Thai masked dance form, khon, as well as choreographing and performing contemporary work. Jet lag and the apocalyptic Bangkok traffic jams cut short their rehearsal time, and the two artists ended up with only enough time to talk to each other about their very different cultural and aesthetic perspectives.

Bel, who spent his childhood in Algeria, Iran, Morocco and South Africa, talked about his interest in cultural exchange: "I think you need first to know your own culture. ... If you are not aware of your own 'strangeness,' it will be difficult to establish a relation with a different culture."

However, Bel recently decided that his ensemble will no longer travel overseas — an attempt to reduce its carbon footprint. Both Bel and Klunchun, actually, have been working on pieces dealing with global warming. But Bel himself will continue to perform internationally, and after Live Arts, Show will be adapted for groups around the world (including a company in Buenos Aires) to make sure the show keeps going on and on.

(r_frankford@citypaper.net)

Pichet Klunchun and Myself, Thu.-Fri., Sept. 4-5, 6 p.m., $25, Arts Bank, 601 S. Broad St.; The Show Must Go On, Thu.-Sat., Sept. 11-13, 8 p.m., $25, Kimmel Center, 260 S. Broad St.; 215-413-1318, livearts-fringe.org.