Siam Si

Contemporary Dance | Choreographic Research & CreationPresented by the National Choreography Centre of Thailand (NCCT) in collaboration with the Embassy of Spain in Thailand

30–31 October 2026Goethe-Saal, Goethe-Institut Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand

What can a traditional Thai object tell us about the way we live, believe, and behave today?

SIAM SI is an international choreographic research and creation project initiated by the National Choreography Centre of Thailand (NCCT), bringing together Thai choreographer Jitti Chompee and Spanish choreographer Juan Kruz Díaz de Garaio Esnaola.A professor at Folkwang University and a member of Schaubühne, Juan Kruz has maintained a longstanding artistic collaboration with Jitti. Their work together in Bangkok in 2024 took place as part of the Unfolding Kafka Festival. In October 2026, Juan Kruz returns to Bangkok to embark on a new collaborative process with a generation of Thai dance artists selected through the NCCT Training Programme and the Khon Kaen Choreography Development (KKCD) programme. Rather than presenting an existing work, SIAM SI unfolds as a process of artistic exchange, research, and co-creation. It brings contemporary choreographic practices into dialogue with Thai cultural knowledge, embodied traditions, and ways of understanding the world.

Object-Generated Choreography

The project draws on Object-Generated Choreography, a methodology developed by Jitti Chompee in which choreography begins with the object rather than the human body. Instead of treating objects merely as theatrical props or symbols, this approach explores how their material qualities, movements, sounds, and interactions can generate choreographic possibilities. The object is not simply something to be represented; it becomes an active starting point for the creation of movement. At the heart of SIAM SI is the traditional fortune-stick cylinder, known in Thai as siam si (เซียมซี), commonly found in Buddhist temples throughout Thailand. Familiar to generations of Thai people, this ritual object is associated with belief, uncertainty, hope, and the desire to glimpse what lies ahead.

Within the project, this familiar object becomes a choreographic agent. Through movement, sound, rhythm, and interaction, it opens up questions about how belief influences the body, how collective rituals shape behaviour, and how ordinary objects carry layers of cultural memory and meaning. Rather than attempting to represent or illustrate Thai cultural identity, SIAM SI explores something more intimate and universal: the invisible forces that quietly choreograph our everyday lives.

Direction and Concept: Jitti ChompeeArtist: Juan Cruz Díaz de Garaio Esnaola and Chachrist ChinnachoteTechnical Director: Jirach Eiamsa-ardSupported by: the Embassy of Spain in Thailand, Goethe-Institut Thailand