HÀ NỘI — Renowned Vietnamese and international belly dancers will give an excellent performance at the Việt Nam Open Belly Dance Festival 2018, set to take place at Đại Nam Theatre in Hà Nội from June 8-11 along with a string of diverse activities.

The event is seen as an opportune occasion for belly dance lovers to share experiences with a number of well-known belly dancers from Italy, South Korea, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Chinese Taipei and Ukraine.

They are regarded as belly dance masters capable of spreading knowledge of belly dance performance skills and inspiring their trainees.

The Professional Belly Dance Competition is the highlight of the festival, which is open to dancers of all ages nationwide and around the world. Contestants will compete in 16 different categories based on their different levels and styles.

The jury board includes Son Sun-mi and Lee Ji-eun of South Korea; Sophia Kong, Jo Peh and Zoe Tan of Malaysia; Rania Rachel of Singapore, and Shulling Tseng of Chinese Taipei.

A number of impressive performances by Vietnamese and international belly dancers will be introduced at a Belly Dance Gala Show scheduled for the same day as the competition which is on June 9.

“For this festival, we not only bring the most beautiful, skillful dancers ịn the world, but also, even more important is that we bringin master dancers and teachers of many internationally famous belly dancers,” said dancer Hà Vân, head of the organising board.

“They can share knowledge, technique and inspiration by the best methods and also cater to the style of their own students.”

All proceeds from the event will be delivered to street knight groups in HCM City as thanks for their bravery in hunting down criminals.

“We are very happy to introduce belly dance workshops instructed by masters Cinzia Purificato of Italy, Angella Kim of  South Korea and Alina Kudinova of Ukraine.”

Purificato is an international belly dancer, teacher and choreographer, based in Italy and appreciated for her power and charisma on the stage. She teaches, judges and dances in many countries.

Kudinova, a beautiful belly dance star, comes from Ukraine. She has conquered many big belly dance festivals. She possesses a strong sense of rhythm, music perceptivity and the ability to express emotion well through her graceful dance steps.

Kim follows modern/classical oriental and fusion style. Since 1999, she has studied drama professionally. She has performed, taught and judged as a master dancer at many festivals around the world. Thanks to the impressive and professional method that she uses to teach, communicate and motivate, her students find out their passion and artistic style on their own.

The festival will also sees the performance of Dolphiny, one of the top Egyptian tabla players in China, who has been studying and playing the Egyptian tabla professionally for nine years. His showmanship and style is a mix of Egyptian and Turkish techniques, because he finds one more powerful while the other one has more interesting rhythm structures.

After the Việt Nam Open Belly Dance Festival, Vân and her partners will join hands to organise the Ahlan International Belly Dance Festival in Hà Nội in October.  — VNS