HCM CITY — Excellent song, circus acts, magic, dance and martial arts were performed by street artists on Saturday in a gala evening held at September 23 Park in HCM City’s District 1.

They were chosen from a Street Art Contest which attracted more than 150 individuals and groups. The contest had been organised by Tuổi Trẻ newspaper in co-operation with the HCM City Movie and Performance Organisation Centre and Sen Vàng Company since December 18 last year and will continue until October 15.

They perform on the street, coffee shops, parks and other public sites to earn a living every evening. They are poor young people and people with disabilities, many of them from south central provinces.

The gala evening was broadcast live on tuoitre.vn, tv.tuoitre.vn and Fanpage of Truyền hình báo Tuổi Trẻ.

Lưu Văn Dự of the HCM City, 64, who has a physical disability due to polio, is one of the contest’s attendees and was chosen to perform at the gala evening.

Once, he watched an American artist use his teeth to play guitar. He liked it and had interest in doing that same thing. He practiced every day. Although his mouth bled, he did not give up. The result of his hard working is to get proficient at playing guitar by his teeth.

The Việt Nam’s Guinness Book of Records presented him a certificate for being a unique artist playing guitar by teeth in the country in 2009.

Another performer was Lê Xuân Tùng of Đồng Nai Province who made a sketch of a portrait of President Hồ Chí Minh by fire and glutinous rice powder, which is used to make traditional toys for children in Việt Nam.

He often performs at the Culture House in the province’s Trảng Bom District. — VNS