Why the Choreography Centre?

The Choreography Centre, envisioned by Jitti Chompee, seeks to foster “Dance Professional Development” in Thailand by creating opportunities, nurturing talent, and establishing high standards for a professional choreography centre of traditional and contemporary dance institutions in Thailand. Drawing on Jitti Chompee’s expertise and personal experience, which has allowed him to develop a distinctive artistic signature and succeed in the industry, the Centre aims to offer a space where traditional and folk practitioners, dancers, and researchers can thrive and reach their full potential.

Establishing a dance company, conservatory, or professional dance school in Thailand has proven challenging due to resource constraints and the lack of a structured platform for dance education. While professional contemporary dance continues to evolve worldwide, Thailand lacks the foundational infrastructure to support its growth, making it difficult for aspiring local dancers and artists to access proper training and exposure to international standards. Furthermore, collaborations with educational institutions have been hindered by bureaucratic hurdles, inflexible systems, and excessive paperwork, rendering certificate-based programs ineffective in providing the necessary professional training.

In response to these challenges, the National Choreography Centre of Thailand was conceived as a resource and knowledge hub, offering a preparatory space free from formal education systems and certification requirements constraints. It serves as a networking and exchange platform that fosters collaboration among artists and promotes Thai choreography on the global stage. Additionally, the Centre offers comprehensive, in-depth information to support the development of professional dance. By learning directly from Jitti Chompee’s experience, Guest teachers and Masters, dancers gain valuable insights into the industry. The Centre aims to create a structured environment where dancers can develop their skills, expand their artistic perspectives, and access opportunities that may otherwise be unavailable within Thailand’s current dance landscape.

Aims of the Choreography Centre

The Centre values traditional and conservative cultures, recognizing them as integral to artistic expression and cultural appropriateness. Traditional Thai dance, especially the Khon, has over centuries accumulated a body of knowledge which enables the Thai theatre to create a dramatic art of great sophistication. It cannot be denied that the artistic process runs the risk of settling down to certain conventions, resulting inevitably in certain prototypes. This leads to a misunderstanding on the part of outsiders that rigid conventionalism is the hallmark of traditional Thai theatre. Coming to traditional Thai theatre with a fresh eye, Jitti discovers many elements that can propel Thai traditional arts to greater heights, and these elements can at the same time inspire contemporary performers to rethink, recreate, and reinvent. It is again wrongly believed that everything about traditional Thai dance is fixed and conventionalized, which is not true. Jitti discovers that the unexpected can give rise to new ideas that can lead to new choreographies. The important thing is not to rely on external criteria to determine who should be doing what, but to identify individual characteristics that distinguish individual dancers, including novices. This is the beginning point of contemporary choreography which is premised on a penetrating observation of the potential of individual dancers. Prototypes and models may be useful as a starting point, but in the end, the dancers who can discover themselves and reinvent themselves are those who will bring progress to the world of performing arts as a whole.

The Choreography Centre does not seek transformation but rather aims to preserve, develop, and propel further cultural exchanges of knowledge and practices from artists across different mediums. By cultivating connections and dialogue, the Centre is committed to enriching both Thai and international artistic communities, ensuring that diverse cultures and perspectives continue to thrive.