Navinda “Lordfai” Pachimsawat

Creative Director, Bangkok Dance Academy

Industry : The Arts

Dance and movement artist and choreographer Navinda grew up in a ballet studio–her mother founded Bangkok Dance Academy–taking her first ballet class at the age of four, and became the first Thai dancer to win the Aggregate Cup in the 11th Asia Pacific Dance Competition, just one of many. She attended the Victorian College of the Arts and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, The University of Melbourne. Navinda shifted away from classical ballet, inspired by the possibilities and freedom to create and choreograph in the style of contemporary dance. She was selected as one of 67 dancers–the youngest and the only Thai–from around the world to join the DanceWEB exchange programme, part of the ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival in Austria. Lordfai has performed and created original works in several countries in the Asia-Pacific region, winning several awards for “Outstanding Choreography”. She also wants to create a healthy and sustainable dance community in Thailand for the long term. She now concentrates on teaching students that dance is not only an artistic discipline but also a form of self-development and expression, an awareness and improvised reaction towards surrounding space, emotion, time, and not just a series of choreographed steps and movements.