Talking

Abstract

This first chapter of Love Dances explores the ethics and politics of intercultural dance via a piece that draws on the modality of speech over that of movement. The chapter sets the stage for the other works examined in the book, all of which combine talking and dancing. It also places Pichet Klunchun and Myself within a longer history of intercultural dance and theater, reminding readers of the continuing context of Orientalism. As a duet between a white, European, heterosexual, cis-male, avant-garde choreographer and a Thai, heterosexual, cis-male, khon dancer, the work reproduces some of the more hackneyed patterns of Orientalist encounter, in contrast to the more complex not-exactly-East-not-exactly-West collaborations studied later in the book. As such, the piece provides a backdrop against which the other pieces may be understood. Finally, this chapter notes the ways that the cross-cultural and the aesthetic dynamics of this particular partnership tell us something about the pitfalls of intercultural collaboration, as well as the pedagogical potentials.