Photograph A — before — TH 001 / 060 Khon — โขน · Featured plate Bangkok · 24mm · 2025

Photograph B — after — TH 001 / 060 Khon — โขน · Featured plate Bangkok · 24mm · 2025

Remapping Tradition

Embodied Knowledge of Southeast Asia

Rather than preserving traditional dance as a fixed cultural heritage, Remapping Tradition explores dance as a living system of embodied knowledge. Working with artists and scholars across Southeast Asia, the project documents, analyses and reimagines movement practices through an open digital archive inspired by the No.60 methodology.

Database No. 60

01 / TH Khon ◇ 02 / MM Kabyar Lut ◇ 03 / LA Lao Theung ◇ 04 / VN Tuồng ◇ 05 / PH Igal ◇ 06 / MY Terinai ◇ 07 / SG Bharatnatyam ◇ 08 / BN Jipin Laila Sembah (Zapin) ◇ 09 / ID Klana Topeng ◇ 01 / TH Khon ◇ 02 / MM Kabyar Lut ◇ 03 / LA Lao Theung ◇ 04 / VN Tuồng ◇ 05 / PH Igal ◇ 06 / MY Terinai ◇ 07 / SG Bharatnatyam ◇ 08 / BN Jipin Laila Sembah (Zapin) ◇ 09 / ID Klana Topeng ◇

§ About the Project

Reimagining Tradition for the Future

Across Southeast Asia, traditional dance knowledge has been passed from body to body for generations. Much of this knowledge remains undocumented, making it vulnerable to loss while limiting new possibilities for research and creative practice.

Remapping Tradition in Southeast Asia is a regional initiative led by Pichet Klunchun Dance Company (PKDC), with support from the Department of Cultural Promotion, Ministry of Culture of Thailand. The project approaches traditional dance not simply as cultural heritage to be preserved, but as a living system of embodied knowledge that can be documented, analysed, shared, and reimagined for future generations.

The project brings together dance artists, scholars, educators, and creative practitioners from across Southeast Asia to explore how traditional movement knowledge can continue to evolve within contemporary contexts.

9 countries

9 dance forms

300+ positions

∞ open framework

§ About the Methodology

The No. 60 Methodology

Developed by choreographer Pichet Klunchun, No.60 is a choreographic methodology that reveals the structural logic of Thai classical dance. Rather than documenting choreography as fixed sequences, it identifies the fundamental positions and movement principles that generate the form itself.

Through observation, analysis, photography, and diagramming, foundational positions are distilled into a visual system that makes embodied knowledge more accessible for study, transmission, and creative exploration. The methodology does not seek to simplify or standardise tradition; instead, it offers a new way of understanding the intelligence embedded within the moving body.

Originally developed through the study of Khon and Thai Classical Dance, No.60 now serves as the conceptual foundation for Remapping Tradition, extending this analytical approach to traditional dance practices across Southeast Asia.

Learn More

01 · Past

The Root of Movement

The fundamental principles that shape how the body stands, steps, balances, and moves—knowledge traditionally transmitted through practice rather than written instruction.

02 · Present

The Diagram

Embodied knowledge is translated into photographs and movement diagrams, revealing the structural relationships that underpin each tradition without replacing the living practice itself.

03 · Future

Contemporary Application

By connecting movement with digital archives, motion capture, animation, and emerging technologies, the methodology opens new possibilities for research, education, artistic creation, and cultural continuity.