Group experiments with hip-hop
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Charged with emotion: The first hip hop group in Viet Nam now has 40 members. — File Photo |
HA NOI — The Big Toe Crew will perform their debut hip hop theatre production at Ha Noi's Youth Theatre on September 9&10.
Change of Emotion hopes to redefine people's perception of hip hop as more than just street art, said Nguyen Viet Thanh, the crew's leader.
Produced and choreographed by Thanh, his work will be expressed by different styles of dance including poppin', lockin' and break dancing that represent different emotions, dreams and personal stories.
"Normally hip hop dancers perform with rap or beatbox music. But this production will be an experimental performance, where hip hop dancers will perform to jazz, classical, and traditional Vietnamese instrumental music," Thanh said.
The production will be broken up into five parts that highlight themes like integration, emotion, friendship, passion and love.
Steps from Vietnamese traditional dances like mua chen and mua non will be utilised in the production. Dancers will also wear Vietnamese conical hats during the performance.
Change of Emotion is part of the project that is being funded by the Danish embassy. The project aims to raise awareness and increase people's understanding that hip hop is a part of Vietnamese contemporary art and culture.
The project will focus on offering hip hop courses and workshops to young people.
Introduced to Viet Nam about 15 years ago, hip hop dancing has become increasingly popular with Vietnamese young people.
Big Toe is one of the first hip hop groups in Viet Nam that practice and work to develop the style of dancing. The group currently has about 40 members, including eight girls, and the youngest member is 11 years old.
After several years practising and performing locally, Big Toe went abroad to perform in the Battle of the Year in Southeast Asia in Thailand, Floor Wars in Denmark and other festivals in mainland China and the Philippines.
Big Toe won the first prize at the R16 Southeast Asia Finals in Malaysia, after outpacing teams from Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore.
The show will begin at 8pm. Free tickets are available at 11 Ngo Thi Nham Street. — VNS