Traverse material, virtual and spiritual worlds in Thai ritual-inspired work

Presented as part of the Freespace Dance 2024 programme of cutting-edge work exploring concepts of time and space, up-and-coming Thai choreographer Kornkarn Rungsawang’s Mali Bucha: Dance Offering combines traditional ritual-inspired dance and contemporary technology to cross material, virtual and spiritual worlds.

Inspired by the centuries-old Thai vernacular practice of Ram kea bon – where a dancer is hired as a messenger to convey wishes from the people to the realm of the spirits – Rungsawang offers an immersive and participatory performance in which she acts as a choreographic medium between the material plane of the audience and a digital shrine. Combining physical choreography with the language of digital avatars, Rungsawang gives new meaning to traditional gestures, transposing the social and cultural practice of a votive dance commonly performed at street corners into a contemporary physical and virtual context.

The performance includes an invitation to make personal wishes and offerings that are conveyed to the digital deities through audience participation, dance, song and AR and VR technology – creating a new space of communal imagination, aspiration and spirituality within the performance arena.

Alongside the performances, Kornkarn Rungsawang leads a hands-on workshop that explores the traditional art of dance offering on 27 November at 7:30pm. See details here.