Modern dance blends tradition, hip-hop

HCM CITY — A dance performance featuring traditional music and hip-hop dance will be staged in Ha Noi and HCM City this week.

Faces is a work of German and French choreographers, Raphael Hillebrand and France Sebastien Ramirez, in collaboration with two musicians from Ha Noi, Hoang Thi Thanh Hoa and Ha Dinh Huy.

Nine Vietnamese dancers from well-known hip-hop groups, including Big Toe, Milky Way and Scared Crew, will wear faces that signify modern problems of youth.

The performance was created in 2008 as a collaboration between the Goethe Institute Viet Nam and L'Espace – the French Cultural Centre Ha Noi – supported by the Elysee Fund.

Performances will take place on Friday at the Tuoi Tre (Youth) Theatre in Ha Noi, and on Sunday at the Ben Thanh Theatre in HCM City.

Free tickets are available at the Goethe Institute in both cities from today. Faces will also travel to Paris and Berlin.

Japanese kimonos set to go on show

HCM CITY—A collection of kimonos, the traditional Japanese costume, will be showcased at a fashion show to be held in HCM City tonight by the HCM City Union of Friendship Organisations and its partners.

Kimono for Four Seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, directed by Katsuko Wakabayashi, will show off garments for children and women for each season.

Traditional Japanese and western wedding clothes will also be on display.

Models from Nagoya in Japan will wear the clothes and be assisted by Japanese make-up artists and hair stylists. HUFO will be joined by the Viet Nam-Japan Business Club, the Nagoya city Labour Union, and Japan-based arts organisations in organising the event.

It will be held at HUFO's premises at 31 Le Duaûn Street, District 1. — VNS

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Masked hip-hop show comes to town

A hip-hop show titled “Faces” by chorographers Raphael Hillebrand and Sébastien Ramirez from Germany and France will take place in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City on 25 and 27 February.

Top hip-hoppers such as Hoang Ky Anh, Nguyen Chinh Dung, Nguyen Minh Kien will perform together with foreign dancers.

All artists will wear masks during the performance to send a message: “Are we all wearing masks to cover up our face in today’s society?”

Introduced for the first time in 2008, in an event organized by Vietnam Goethe Institute and French center L’Espace, the hip hop performance has since gained more fans as it reflects a dynamic, open and modern Vietnam, a country with rich culture and good preservation of traditional values.

The show will take place in Hanoi’s Youth Theater on February 25 and Ho Chi Minh Ctiy’s Ben Thanh Theater on February 27.

Free tickets can be obtained at Goethe Institute, No 56-57 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Hanoi or No 18, Street 1, Do Thanh, Ward 4, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City.

After performing in Vietnam, the crew will tour France and Germany.

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German textbooks gifted to National Library

HA NOI — The German Embassy granted 50 textbooks to the National Library yesterday.

Textbooks on law, economics, and engineering purchased by the German Foreign Affairs Ministry, have been selected by the Goethe Institute in Ha Noi and the library.

Earlier, the library and the Goethe Institute signed a memorandum of co-operation focused on improving the standards of human resources working in the library and archiving sector.

Embroidery depicts famous poem of Zen master

HA NOI — Veteran artisan Le Van Kinh has completed a set of embroideries depicting a poem by Zen Master Man Giac.

Kinh has spent 10 years to complete the paintings in a variety of languages including Danish, English, French, German, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Lao, Cambodian and Thai.

The artisan, who works in the former imperial capital of Hue, plans another six such embroideries.

Zen Master Man Giac (1052-96), or Ly Truong, was famous for his Buddhism theory and writing skills during the reign of King Ly Nhan Tong.

TV personalities set for Miss Charming Television

HCM CITY — Thirteen women television personalities from around Viet Nam and one from Laos will take part in a traditional-culture and lifestyle contest that begins in HCM City tonight.

At the four-day annual Miss Charming Television organised by HCM City Television (HTV) contestants will be judged on appearance, performance, emceeing skills, and presentation style.

The Vietnamese competitors work for television stations in Ha Noi and HCM City and some provinces, and the Lao contestant, Nhom Mala is from Attapeu Television.

All work as reporters, producers and hosts.

Five will go through to the final to be held on Saturday at the HTV Theatre where they will perform folk songs and dances in their traditional costumes.

The contest will be shown on HTV's channel 9.

Winners of British Council ‘green' contest announced

HA NOI — The winners of the British Council's Green Tips essay contest were announced yesterday, as part of the council's I Am Green campaign to raise environmental awareness.

The contest, launched last month, sought to encourage young people to think about and develop responses to the challenges of climate change, said the organising board. It drew 400 entries from around the country, all written on recycled paper

Two other competitions under the campaign have also wrapped up, including the How Green Is Your City photo contest – which chose ten winners, each of whom will win English courses at British Council and trips from the Exotissimo tour company – and the Green Tip Box competition, which selected eight winners.

Another 28 young people have won a trip to the Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Centre in another contest on wildlife conservation. — VNS

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Three-part exhibit features multiple shades of Ha Noi

Multiple personalities: A painting by Bui Xuan Phai.

HA NOI — An exhibition entitled Ha Noi – City Mirrored in Art displaying works by more than 20 artists who have featured the capital city in their creations opened on Thursday.

The exhibition, curated by Natasha Kraevskaia and Lisa Drummond, both of whom designed their exhibits based on their passion and scientific expertise, will be held in three separate parts.

The first part, to run until December 3, with theme Nostalgic, Utopian, Romantic and Idealised, shows Ha Noi as more of a dreamy than melancholy place, bright and airy rather than dark and muggy. Part one features works by artists such as Bui Xuan Phai, Nguyen Bao Toan, Vuong Thao, Brian Ring, Do Phan and Tran Nguyen Hieu, who have all portrayed Ha Noi as a romantic and nostalgic place.

A jazz concert by Thaerichens Tentett accompanied the opening ceremony in the courtyard of the Goethe Institute.

Ha Noi – Dystopian, Realistic, and Change will be the theme of the second part of the exhibition which will open on December 7. The six-day exhibition will focus on Ha Noi as an urban structure which is undergoing rapid change and upheaval.

Long considered romantic, Ha Noi is becoming a contradictory city which can be viewed critically through the works by Do Minh Tam, Vu Bich Thuy, Nguyen The Son, Vu Dan Tan, Nguyen Nhu Y and others.

The final part of Ha Noi – City Mirrored in Art will display the artistic research conducted by Hamburg photographer Andre Lutzen along the blurred border between private and public life in the Vietnamese capital.

In his series Public/Private Ha Noi, the artist plays with the contradictions and paradoxical harmonies of these two poles.

Opening on December 16, the final part of the exhibition will run until December 30.

Enjoy the exhibit at the Goethe Institute, 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street. — VNS

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60 Years of German Cinema in Hanoi

The Goethe Institute in Hanoi will organize a German Film Week in Hanoi from from now until November 7 to celebrate 60 years of German Cinema (1999-2009).

The Film Week will focus on the new millennium, the reunification of East and West Germany with all its problems, the new German filmmaking era, “Berliner Schule”, with its realism, and internationally successful German films.

Every two months, the Goethe Institute in Hanoi will feature a decade in cinema history, presenting films that define their times, films which were talked about, which shocked and impressed and which led the way for German cinema in both East and West Germany.

Seven films will screen during the week, including Policewoman, 2000, directed by Andreas Dresen on November 01, 7:30 p.m., Goodbye Lenin!, 2003, directed by Wolfgang Becker on November 02, 7:30 p.m., Head-On, 2004, directed by Fatih Akin on November 03, 7:30 p.m., Go for Zucker!, 2005, directed by Dani Levy on  November 4, 7:30 p.m., Longing, 2006, directed by Valeska Grisebach on November 5, 7:30 p.m., The Lives of Others, 2006, directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck on November 6, 7:30 p.m., Jerichow, 2008, directed by Christian Petzold on November 7, 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are free and available at the Hanoi Goethe Institute, 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street in Hanoi from October 26. For more information, call 04 37342251/52/53 (ext. 9).

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