THE PULSE OF NATURE
THE PULSE OF NATURE
Chetana Nagavajara
I cannot contain my enthusiasm and am writing these short lines immediately after returning home from BACC in the evening of March 18, 2016. I was first tempted to call this astounding choreographic feat “the apotheosis of the dance”, but soon realized that it would have been misleading: Wagner’s description of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 is so remote from MONOS, for the “18 Monkeys Dance Theatre” has mellowed, or rather matured, beyond words, since I last saw them at the Siam Society. No exhibitionistic vituosity for its own sake, no forced excitement of any kind, but grace and sobriety. I had not known the music by the Escalandrum Band of Buenos Aires, but what I heard by way of recording tonight was very sophisticated and subtle. No wonder this music has somehow given new direction to our 18 Monkeys.
If you do not pay attention to the underlying concept of this performance, you will see only a series of highly imaginative dances with no unified narrative. But the symbolism of the bouquet of wild flowers appearing at the beginning and the ending of the performance can serve as a clue. Nature reigns supreme: human beings and other creatures must obey its law. The demon and monkey, roles prescribed by our Khon tradition, remain subservient to nature. And the all-pervasive concept of nature in MONOS is deliberately conciliatory. The music would not permit it to be otherwise. Even the fighting scenes are far from violent. That is our Khon tamed by the spirit of melodious Brazilian music. It is amazing how the crossing of cultural divides is achieved: contemporary dance is fused into our traditional Thai choreography. One partucular moment captivated me: the drum solo by the Brazilian drummer accompanied perfectly traditional Thai dance movements. What an ingenious fusion!
I have said little about the prowess of the four dancers. It can be taken for granted. How the lower part of one human body is made to merge with the upper part of another, with a masked face, is simply terrific. But all in all, silence and music are the governing forces of all action. The silence conditions the audience to be attentive, and when the music breaks in, that passage is almost imperceptible. I simply cannot free myself from the magical power of this music. It allows only a little merriment, and it sounds melancholic through and through. It reminds me of the saying by the French Romantic writer, Chateaubriand : “The song of nature is sad, even when it expresses happiness.” That describes exactly my experience of MONOS, a strange experience that one does not usually associate with dance theatre, especially one with no plot.
I am thankful to Khun Jitti and his team who decide to treat us this time to this singular aesthetic experience. Let us stay clear of Wagner and his emotional paroxysms. I am inclined to characterize MONOS as THE PULSE OF NATURE, benign and endowed with reconciliation. That is what we need for Thailand in B.E. 2559.