The fourth international festival, Europe Meets Asia in ContemporaryDance, will be held from September 24-28 at the Tuoi Tre (Youth) Theatrein Hanoi.
During the festival's five evenings, displays ofcontemporary dance will be given by performers from different countriesof Belgium (Wallonie-Bruxelles), Germany, France, Japan and, for thefirst time, a Swedish-Finnish combo. Artists from the host country,Vietnam will also perform.
This year the festival celebrates theco-operation between countries in producing contemporary dance. Germanyand Belgium collaborated with dancers from different backgrounds tocreate a piece in Malaysia, and the French production comes fromSingapore.
Almuth Meyer-Zollitsch, Director of the GoetheInstitute in Vietnam, says that if this year's festival is anything likeprevious years, the audience will be in for a treat. "In the world ofdance, creativity has no limits," she said.
The festival openswith Scarabe (The Dung Rolling Beetle) by Finnish choreographer VirpiPahkinen. Premiered in Helsinki in 2012, the central figure of thedance, the scarabe, navigates a "magnetic memory field" to the tune ofJapanese Koto strings.
Japanese choreographer Yo Nakamura bringsto Hanoi the prize-winning Yokohama dance, Good Bye. Using scripts fromYasujiro Ozu's classic films, Tokyo Story and An Autumn Afternoon,Nakamura explores the gap between the characters' dialogue and theirinner minds.
Collaboration between German choreographer Arco Renzand five soloists from the Vietnam National Opera Ballet gives life tothe billed piece, Hanoi Stardust. The choreography envisions a dynamicencounter between classical ballet and a youthful Vietnamese society.
TheFrench cultural centre in Hanoi, L'Espace, will premiere Kublai KhanInvestigations Dance Group's contemporary ballet piece, Your Ghost isNot Enough. The male-female duette will gives voice to the differencesin the way the genders feel about each other and how they accept theother's genderised world. Choreographer Frank Micheletti places dancers,Idio Chichava and Sara Tan in front of a mirror in order to expressconflict between their inner and outer worlds.
TheWallonie-Bruxelles troupe will perform two pieces, Havran (The Raven) bychoreographer Jaro Vinarsky, and La Tour Des Vents (The BreezeRustling) by choreographer Karine Ponties and Vietnamese dancer NguyenVan Nam.
The Vietnamese choreographer Tran Ly Ly will round upthe festival with a dance about the story of a man growing up duringsignificant changes in society. These social tensions give rise to thecharacter's internal conflicts which obsess him. The piece delves intothe problem of how the individual self relates to society.
Thecontemporary dance festival has spearheaded a recent and growingawareness of contemporary dance in Hanoi, said festival directorMeyer-Zollitsch.
The festival is the brainwork of the Network ofEuropean Cultural Institutes and Embassies (EUNIC) in Hanoi. It was madepossible through the co-operation of the Vietnam National Opera andBallet and is again coordinated by the Goethe Institute.-VNA
During the festival's five evenings, displays ofcontemporary dance will be given by performers from different countriesof Belgium (Wallonie-Bruxelles), Germany, France, Japan and, for thefirst time, a Swedish-Finnish combo. Artists from the host country,Vietnam will also perform.
This year the festival celebrates theco-operation between countries in producing contemporary dance. Germanyand Belgium collaborated with dancers from different backgrounds tocreate a piece in Malaysia, and the French production comes fromSingapore.
Almuth Meyer-Zollitsch, Director of the GoetheInstitute in Vietnam, says that if this year's festival is anything likeprevious years, the audience will be in for a treat. "In the world ofdance, creativity has no limits," she said.
The festival openswith Scarabe (The Dung Rolling Beetle) by Finnish choreographer VirpiPahkinen. Premiered in Helsinki in 2012, the central figure of thedance, the scarabe, navigates a "magnetic memory field" to the tune ofJapanese Koto strings.
Japanese choreographer Yo Nakamura bringsto Hanoi the prize-winning Yokohama dance, Good Bye. Using scripts fromYasujiro Ozu's classic films, Tokyo Story and An Autumn Afternoon,Nakamura explores the gap between the characters' dialogue and theirinner minds.
Collaboration between German choreographer Arco Renzand five soloists from the Vietnam National Opera Ballet gives life tothe billed piece, Hanoi Stardust. The choreography envisions a dynamicencounter between classical ballet and a youthful Vietnamese society.
TheFrench cultural centre in Hanoi, L'Espace, will premiere Kublai KhanInvestigations Dance Group's contemporary ballet piece, Your Ghost isNot Enough. The male-female duette will gives voice to the differencesin the way the genders feel about each other and how they accept theother's genderised world. Choreographer Frank Micheletti places dancers,Idio Chichava and Sara Tan in front of a mirror in order to expressconflict between their inner and outer worlds.
TheWallonie-Bruxelles troupe will perform two pieces, Havran (The Raven) bychoreographer Jaro Vinarsky, and La Tour Des Vents (The BreezeRustling) by choreographer Karine Ponties and Vietnamese dancer NguyenVan Nam.
The Vietnamese choreographer Tran Ly Ly will round upthe festival with a dance about the story of a man growing up duringsignificant changes in society. These social tensions give rise to thecharacter's internal conflicts which obsess him. The piece delves intothe problem of how the individual self relates to society.
Thecontemporary dance festival has spearheaded a recent and growingawareness of contemporary dance in Hanoi, said festival directorMeyer-Zollitsch.
The festival is the brainwork of the Network ofEuropean Cultural Institutes and Embassies (EUNIC) in Hanoi. It was madepossible through the co-operation of the Vietnam National Opera andBallet and is again coordinated by the Goethe Institute.-VNA
