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Two men talk about dance on stage. Sounds riveting, doesn’t it? On closer inspection, however, About Khon promises to be one of the most interesting performances at this year’s New Vision Arts Festival – and one that will definitely teach you a lesson or two.

Pichet Klunchun, who choreographed and performs in About Khon, describes the performance as a “conversation between two men from two cultural backgrounds.” Their on-stage discussion turns to dance as Klunchun explains and demonstrates Khon, an ancient dance form from his native Thailand. The Bessie award-winning choreographer and dancer Jérôme Bel plays the inquisitor to Klunchun’s master. “I am here to play the ‘candide’, the neophyte, the foreigner,” he explains. “I ask questions to Pichet Klunchun about Khon and he tries to explain to me what it is, but as I am a little bit stupid and not so familiar with Asia, it turns into a kind of comedy.”

Khon is one of Thailand’s oldest dance forms, which is largely based on the Ramakien, a Thai version of the ancient Hindu epic Ramayana. The story follows the journey of a banished Prince who must rescue his wife from the demon god who kidnapped her. Comprised of seven books in total, the Ramayana is still taught in Thai schools today. In Khon dance, characters are either men, women, demons or monkeys, who all wear elaborately carved masks and extravagant costumes.

Throughout the show, Klunchun leads Bel through the world of Khon dance, beginning with the basic elements, the body and movement, and the meanings and language embedded in each gesture and motion. As the show progresses, Bel is told about the rigorous training a Khon dancer undergoes, and is shown parts of the daily routine. The importance of music and costumes are discussed, and finally Klunchun gets into a full Yak (demon) costume on stage, and the show finishes with a Khon performance.

A contemporary expert in the dance form trained by the late Khon master Chaiyot Khummanee, Klunchun injects a personal style into his choreography, and has a self-proclaimed mission to bring the ancient dance form to the world. “Khon dance should communicate with people in the broader range, not only just to Thai audiences, [it] inspires them to look back and consider their own classical form of culture” argues Klunchun.

Half dance, half discourse, About Khon will not be your average night of dance – and will require the audience to pay close attention. As Bel says, “I am offering an intense experience and audiences do what they want with this, they take what they can. This is their job.”