Siam Si
Contemporary dance work where the Thai fortune-stick cylinder becomes a choreographic system, created by Spanish and Thai artists.
Siam Si Performance Venue: Goethe-Institut Thailand, 30- 31 October 2026 at 7:30 PM Presented by National Choreography Centre of Thailand (NCCT) and Embassy of Spain in Thailand Project Director Jitti Chompee International Collaborating Choreographer Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola (Spain) Project Overview Siam Si is an international choreographic research and creation project that brings together Spanish choreographer Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola and a new generation of Thai dance artists selected through the National Choreography Centre of Thailand (NCCT) Training Program and the Khon Kaen Choreography Development (KKCD) programme.
Rather than presenting an existing performance, the residency proposes a process of artistic exchange in which choreographic knowledge, cultural memory, and embodied practices are shared through collaborative creation. The project investigates how ordinary objects contain invisible systems of belief, memory, and social behaviour. At its centre is Siam Si ( เซียมซี ) , the traditional fortune-stick cylinder found in Buddhist temples throughout Thailand.
Within this project, Siam Si is transformed from a ritual object into a choreographic system capable of generating movement, rhythm, sound, uncertainty, and collective interaction. Artistic Concept The project is based on Object-Generated Choreography , a methodology developed by Jitti Chompee in which choreography begins with objects rather than the human body.
Instead of functioning as theatrical props, objects generate movement through their material properties, sound, rhythm, weight, resistance, and social associations. The encounter between performers and objects produces choreography that continuously negotiates between tradition and contemporary life, individual agency and collective belief.
Rather than illustrating cultural identity, Siam Si invites audiences to experience how invisible systems quietly organise everyday behaviour. Supported by Embassy of Spain in Thailand, Goethe-Institut Thailand, The Quarter Hua Lamphong Hotel by UHG
