No. 60 by Pichet Klunchun Dance Company

Queer East Festival

Two performers are captured in a tight, layered composition beneath a low, textured ceiling covered in shimmering silver sequins. In the foreground, a dancer in a grey sleeveless top leans forward with their arms held in a fluid, bent pose. Behind them, a second performer in a teal long-sleeved top reaches one hand up to touch the sparkling surface while their other hand is held near their face in an angular gesture.
Photo by Hideto Maezawa

About No. 60 by Pichet Klunchun Dance Company

LIMITED EARLY BIRD TICKETS AVAILABLE*

No. 60 is the culmination of Pichet Klunchun’s two-decades-long research into the language of Thai traditional Khon dance.

Stripping the classical form of its face-mask and sequined costume, Pichet scrutinises the 59 poses and movements in the Theppanom canon, which all Thai classical dancers acquire through rote learning. He then generates six new principles that undergird the 700-year-old system and presents a manual of hand-drawn diagrams and notes that allows the young generation to think and learn rationally, free of mysticism and ideological imposition of history.

As No. 60 unfixes the rigidity of classicism, it also embraces the sense and soul of Thai legacy. It unfolds a complex dialogue between tradition and innovation as they inhabit and circulate within the same continuum.

*Early Bird discount applies at checkout.

About Pichet Klunchun Dance Company

Pichet Klunchun Dance Company is one of Thailand’s leading contemporary dance companies, founded in 2010 by internationally acclaimed choreographer Pichet Klunchun. Grounded in Thai classical dance – particularly Khon – PKDC creates performance works that challenge conventional boundaries, reframe cultural narratives, and offer new vocabularies of movement for a rapidly shifting world. By integrating classical Thai forms with contemporary aesthetics and critical inquiry, PKDC has become a pioneering force in Southeast Asian performance. Since Pichet’s early solo tours in 2004–2005, PKDC has created and toured numerous internationally acclaimed works, including Nijinsky Siam (2010), Black and White (2011), Tam kai (2013), Nay Nai (2014), *Dancing with Death* (2016), Bird (2018), No. 60 (2020), Mali Bucha: Dance Offering (2023), and Cyber Subin (2024). These pieces have been featured at major festivals and venues across Europe, Asia, and beyond.

https://pkdance.co/

IG: @pichetklunchundancecompany
FB: @pklifework

About Queer East

Queer East is a cross-disciplinary festival that showcases boundary-pushing LGBTQ+ cinema, live arts, and moving image work from East and Southeast Asia and its diaspora communities.

https://queereast.org.uk/

IG: @queereast

Cast and Creatives

Artistic Director and Choreographer: Pichet Klunchun

Dancers: Kornkarn Rungsawang and Pichet Klunchun

CG Artist: Jaturakorn Pinpech

Music and Sound Designer: Zai Tang

Dramaturge: Tang Fu Kuen

Set Concept and Lighting Design: Ray Tseng

Production and Stage Manager: Cindy Yeong

Producer: Sojirat Singholka / PKDC

Company Manager: Kanpong Thaweesuk / PKDC

International Distribution: Stéphane Noël / Materialise

Credits

No. 60 is a production of Pichet Klunchun Dance Company (Bangkok / TH), commissioned and co-produced by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay (Singapore / SG), and co-produced by TPAM – Performing Arts Meeting Yokohama (JP) and Taipei Performing Arts Center (TW).

  • Two dancers perform on a dark stage in front of a large digital projection. The projection consists of yellow and green glowing dots connected by thin white lines, resembling a constellation map against a backdrop of faint, rippling circles. In the foreground, a dancer in a teal long-sleeved top and black shorts lunges deeply to the left. Beside them, a dancer in a grey sleeveless top and shorts stands in a wide stance, extending one arm across the other's face in a sharp, linear gesture.
  • A wide-angle, high-contrast view of a stage featuring layered projections and silhouettes. Centre stage, a dancer appears as a sharp silhouette against a bright horizontal light band. The floor is covered in a projected geometric grid of circles, while the back wall shows a circular projection of a figure in ornate dress. Above, a large, curved sheet of shimmering silver material hangs from the ceiling.
  • A close-up, high-contrast silhouette of a performer's upper body against a bright, gradient white background. The dancer is facing forward, with one arm extended straight out to the side. Their hand is held in a precise mudra-like gesture, with the thumb and forefinger touching to form a small circle while the other fingers are fanned out.
  • A wide shot of two performers on a dark stage beneath a vast, undulating canopy of shimmering silver sequins. One dancer in a teal top is crouched low to the ground in a deep lunge, while the other in a grey top moves with a leg raised behind them. The floor is dappled with reflected light from the ceiling.