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| One of the performances in the festival agenda performed at the closing ceremony |
This is the opinion of the Panel of Judges at the closing ceremony of the 2024 International Dance Festival organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in coordination with the People's Committee of Thua Thien Hue Province on the evening of August 21, at Thua Thien Hue Provincial Center for Culture and Cinema (41A Hung Vuong, Hue City).
Rich in cultural identities
The Dance Festival, lasting for four days, attracts the participation of nearly 500 artists and actors representing nine countries, including Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Republic of the Philippines, the People’s Republic of China, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Kingdom of Cambodia, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Vietnam - the host country.
Attending the closing ceremony were Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ta Quang Dong, Provincial Party Committee Member, Standing Vice Chairman of Thua Thien Hue Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Binh, and a large audience.
Before the awards were announced, excellent dance performances at the Festival had been performed one by one by artists from art troupes.
Addressing the closing ceremony, Mr. Ta Quang Dong hailed that the Festival had witnessed diverse and unique dance art performances such as dance dramas, traditional dances, folk dances, contemporary dances, etc., by artists and actors from Vietnam and other countries, which contributed to spreading the creative, distinctive and typical values in the dance art of each nation. This, thereby, creates a deeper understanding of the cultural and spiritual life, customs and sophistication of dance art in particular and performing arts of countries in general.
According to Mr. Dong, besides the successful performances which received considerable investment in script, choreography, staging, music and performance techniques, etc., there were still some performances that had not yet been given meticulous attention in terms of expertise and performance conditions.
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| The Organizing Committee awarding Gold Medals to five excellent performances |
Mr. Dong hopes that in the coming festivals, the agencies and functional units in charge of the participating art troupes continue to pay attention to and invest in human resources and facilities for the performances, as well as have a remuneration policy to attract, foster and train classes of young and talented artists and actors to be the successors in the future. “For some performances, it is necessary to preserve the harmony between stage techniques, music and the performance of artists and actors, which requires choreographing, staging and practicing to reach a higher level of creativity and smoothness; while at the same time, increasing the performances with high educational significance in ideology and aesthetics, associated with the cultural identity of each country,” commented Mr. Dong.
The investment in choreography from international art troupes can be seen in the culturally rich performances from the Indonesian troupe, the vibrant performances from the Malaysian and Lao troupes, the combination of traditional Vietnamese folk music with Indian folk dance, or the collective performances imbued with national folk cultural identities of the art troupes of China, the United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, and Cambodia.
Vietnamese art troupes have obtained remarkable achievements
The Organizing Committee announced the five excellent performances awarded Gold Medals, including: Hoa tinh nhan gian (Painting Love) by the Military University of Culture and Arts, The Harvest by the Art Troupe of the Laos People’s Democratic Republic, the contemporary dance “Jagad Jiwa” by the Art Troupe of the Republic of Indonesia, Nang May (Lady May) by Vietnam Academy of Dance, and Ly ngu vong nguyet (Carp Looking At the Moon) by the Vietnam National Opera and Ballet. In addition, there were 10 other performances awarded Silver Medals.
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| Artists from different art troupes taking commemorative photos on the closing night |
People's Artist Nguyen Cong Nhac, Chairman of the Panel of Judges at the Festival, commented that domestic and international choreographers and artists had made great efforts in conveying the stories, messages, and cultural identities of their countries in a creative manner, combining various dance genres and incorporating the body language of dance in their works.
According to Mr. Nhac, Vietnamese art troupes have obtained extraordinary achievements through performance programs and independent dance works. Such extraordinary achievements mark significant contributions of a number of professional art theaters along with leading art training units, such as Vietnam Academy of Dance, University of Theater and Performing Arts of Hanoi, as well as Military University of Culture and Arts.
The performances focused on folk dance themes and materials of different ethnic groups and regions, while at the same time, delicately combined with contemporary dance. The seamless combination of music and dance contributes to creating groundbreaking works of high artistic quality. To achieve such success, it is necessary to recognize the creativity and talent of the young generation of choreographers and dancers, making a strong impression on dance lovers as well as their counterparts domestically and internationally.
Authors, choreographers and musicians need to be careful to avoid overusing techniques and language of contemporary dance in the process of creating works on cultural and religious themes. This is to ensure that the meaning of the work is neither affected nor turned into just a reproduction of the ritual form according to the author's subjective thinking. In addition, the overuse of elements and movements of contemporary dance may cause the loss of nationality, psychological and emotional elements of Vietnamese people in the work.
“In addition, authors and choreographers need to pay attention to the structure of dance drama and poetic dance, which requires deep understanding of literary devices and character image building. For authors who create large works with themes and plots, it is important to consider ideas, character images, structure, layout, and especially the language of movements so as to promote actors’ talents, skills and techniques and clearly express the theme and ideology of the characters and the works,” commented People's Artist Nguyen Cong Nhac.