HÀ NỘI – Dancers and choreographers from European and Asian countries will be performing together at a festival series in Hà Nội kicking off tonight.

Contemporary dances will be performed by artistes from Germany, France, Israel, Japan, Austria and Việt Nam in Hà Nội from Wednesday through to Sunday, and in HCMC from September 25 to 27.

A piece entitled Laundries in Hà Nội, has been selected to open the festival at Hà Nội’s Youth Theatre tonight and at the HCM City Opera House on September 25 at 8pm.

The piece is a co-production by German choreographer and dancer Riki von Falken and Vietnamese Nguyễn Trinh Thi, and is a joint project carried out by the Goethe Institute in Hà Nội.

Under the project, von Falken had three weeks to research the images and movements in Hà Nội followed by an intensive work process in Berlin.

Born in 1954, during her childhood in the 1960s, television brought the images of the war into German living rooms. Whilst the media artist Thi was born in Hà Nội in 1973 shortly after the last big US bombardments.

Both of them still carry those pictures within themselves. Even if the images of war have been eliminated, they have still consciously and unconsciously influenced the context of the life of both artistes.

The artistes take the audience on a journey of transformative experience and its influence on images of the present.

Von Falken will dance with a background of images and video by Thi.

"Europe meets Asia in Contemporary Dance" has been an initiative of the European Union Network Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) and embassies in Hà Nội since in 2011. It is an artistic and cultural event to promote and enhance the value of contemporary dance in Việt Nam, creating a bridge for artistes to exchange and to share experiences, as well as an opportunity to bring Vietnamese audiences closer to the diverse expressions of contemporary dance.

The host country Việt Nam will be represented by Trần Ly Ly and her team from HCM City Dance College. They will perform their Yes Yes No No dance, which follows the first version last year. They will perform on Thursday in Hà Nội and September 26 in HCM City.

“This is the third time I’ve been invited to take part in the contemporary dance festival. It is a pride and also a pressure for me,” said choreographer Ly at the press conference held yesterday at the Goethe Institute in Hà Nội.

Six dancers will perform Yes Yes No No with live music played by Phú Phạm.

The Roof is a contribution by the HCM City Ballet Symphony and Orchestra taking part for the first time at the festival. They will play in Hà Nội on Friday and HCM City on September 27.

From Israel, choreographer Idan Sharabi will present Interviews at the festival in Hà Nội on Saturday.

“In July 2014, during the Gaza conflict, I started creating Interviews. I interviewed several people I met while sitting in different shelters as well as the dancers from the company,” said Sharabi.

“From their responses, I learned a lot about humanity in relation to violence, power and communication. These topics evoked even more questions in me, which soon enough, became strong pillars in the construction of the dance.”

The festival will also see performances by Austrian, Japanese and French dancers.

In Hà Nội the festival will take place at the Việt Nam Youth Theatre, 11 Ngô Thì Nhậm and Star Galaxy Theatre, 87 Láng Hạ. In HCM City it will be held at the municipal Opera House, 7 Lam Sơn Square.

For more information please go to www.hanoidancefestival.com. -- VNS