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VietNamNet Bridge – After three years of touring Europe, My Village circus show returned to Hanoi on August 10, to charm hundreds of audience people.
My Village is a combination of arts, highlighting the peaceful country life and the poetic scenery of Vietnam. Vietnamese bamboo is used as a unique means to help viewers understand the body language of the artists who dance, tread and perform acrobatics on bamboo pipes and perform subtle tricks with bamboo baskets.
The stage is decorated with bamboo screens and musical instruments are also made of bamboo.
My Village is staged by overseas Vietnamese artists including circus artist Tuan Anh (Germany), song writer Nhat Ly (France) and circus teacher Nguyen Lan (France).
The initiative was born six years ago when the artists came together to draft a French-Vietnamese cultural exchange program to build a new circus program with ethnic culture as the main material.
With an elegant combination of circus acts, music, installation and conformation, Lang toi was invited to France for its first performance abroad at Quai Branly Museum in Paris from June to July 2009.
Since then, it has toured Europe and been to Singapore in the last few years and has won the hearts of many audiences.
The circus group performed at the Central Theater in Hanoi on the occasion of 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi in 2010.
“My Village” is special because it contains episodes of Vietnamese traditional folk games, dances and circus acts and it is performed against the background of traditional modern music with artistic lighting.
Bamboo and straw are used throughout the performance as set decorations as well as for props, creating a lively painting about the countryside in Vietnam.
Via the circus items depicting folk games, such as shuttle-cock kicking and swinging, the viewers see skilled circus techniques of the artists who perform contortions, acrobatics and tumbling with bamboo.
These manipulations are one of the most powerful and moving things about the show, with each of the performers weaving their poles to create varied images.
Traditional daily activities of villagers such as plowing, watering, house building, and also festive celebrations are demonstrated by performers and musicians in farmers’ clothing.
With special artistic value, “My Village” leaves a lasting impression on foreign viewers and provides a chance for Vietnamese circus artists to show their talent, creativeness and dynamic energy. It also serves as a special cultural bridge, introducing Vietnam’s circus art in particular and Vietnam’s culture in general to international friends.
After the first show marked its return on August 10, the show is scheduled for weekly performed in Hanoi from April 2013, said People’s Artist Vu Ngoan Hop, director of the Vietnam Circus Federation.
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