Folk cultural research honoured

HA NOI – Valuable pieces of research on folk literature and art were granted prizes by the Viet Nam Folk Arts and Literature Association on Wednesday in Ha Noi at an annual association event.

Research on the spiritual customs of the Thai ethnic group who live in the northern mountainous region of Viet Nam by Luong Thi Dai and Lo Xuan Hinh and a book on the geography of Quang Xuong District in the central province of Thanh Hoa by Hoang Tuan Pho received the most prestigious awards on the occasion.

Pho's work provided a range of information on the coastal district of Quang Xuong including its history, geographical traits and potential development in tourism and traditional handicrafts.

Dai and Hinh researched the long-standing traditions of the Thai people, concentrating on their marriage ceremony, known as sen phan be.

The ceremony is thought to help break ties with loved ones from a previous life, so the participants can find happiness in the current one.

The association awarded 66 prizes selected from 89 entries in the fields of philology, folk culture, performing arts, geography, traditional customs and folk knowledge, according to To Ngoc Thanh, the association's president. -- VNS

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Passing on folk dance skills

Move it: Dao dancers perform in a traditional festival. Dancing teachers complain that dance students should learn more about ethnic groups before learning their dances. — VNA/VNS Photo Phuong Hoa

HA NOI — Ethnic folk dance training needs improvements including shortened training time and better background music, said professional dancers at a recent conference on ethnic folk dancing. Artist Tran Duc Vien, a retired dancing teacher, proposed to shorten existing dance training courses at art institutes throughout the country.

"The folk dance training schedule is too long now, which has led to a waste of time and finances," Vien said. "Concerned agencies should publish folk dances of ethnic groups in more systematically designed course books to be officially used at art institutes throughout the country."

The background music for folk dances should also be revised to be professional enough for teaching and performing, he said.

Dance teacher Pham Thanh Tung, from the Dance Department of the Military Culture and Arts College, complained on the present way of teaching folk dances in art institutes.

"Dance teachers now just tend to guide students to imitate their gestures," he said. "Students themselves have not yet been made aware of nor developed any profound understanding of the ethnic groups' culture reflected in their dances.

"I think young dance teachers like me should be equipped with knowledge of ethnic groups and the folk dances we teach so that we can give students general knowledge about the groups before teaching them the dances of those groups."

Other participants in the conference agreed that folk dances were increasingly important in preserving traditional cultural values, but the training was beset with shortcomings. According to artist Ha The Dung, director of the HCM City Dance College, the biggest hindrance was the limited number of folk dance trainers.

"Furthermore, the teaching materials are also insufficient. There are only folk dances for 18 ethnic groups collected out of 54 groups throughout the country," Dung said.

Artist Nguyen Van Quang, director of the Vet Nam Dance College, mentioned the difficulty in recruiting students for the field.

"Today's youth prefer other types of arts," he said. "Some meeting the criteria on appearance and talent just take the entrance exams for fun and are not serious about studying even if they pass." — VNS

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