International dance festival kicks off

"Europe Meets Asia in Contemporary Dance" includes a number of productions by artists who collaborated across national boundaries, including Germany, Belgium, Vietnam, France, Canada, and Spain. 

The festival has run every year since 2011. The medium of dance, organisers said, can offer new insight on familiar themes.

The festival kicks off with the 45-minute dance created by Berlin-based choreographer Isabelle Schad and visual artist Laurent Goldring. “The Burrrow” is inspired by Franz Kafka’s unfinished novella of the same title.

Later in the festival, Vietnamese and multi-national shows motivated by the “spirit of coproduction”, Eckstein said, will feature local and international dancers.

Representing Vietnam, the Wintercearig dance project by Tricia Nguyen tests the limits of dance for therapy and innovates new treatment methods. The project examines symptoms of depression and anxiety disorders. The piece entitled "Disorder" will be performed at HCM City-based the Factory Contemporary Arts Centre on September 21 at 7.30pm.

From Canada, overseas Vietnamese artist Kim Sanh Chau will perform with her two colleagues Maud Llorente and Erin Hill. Entitled “Black & Scholes”, the dance is about the appearance and disappearance of the individual. The dancers have performed the dance two times in Canada. 

The Swiss Asphalt Piloten will perform their witty artistic rebellion “Tape Riot” with and against surrouding urban space. The four artists will pop up on some street corners in Hanoi and HCM City.

The piece is built on the reality of urban space and the daily flow of those who inhabit it. The dance will be performed by dancers Laura Keil and Ichi Go.

Dancers Raquel Madrid and Cipriano Lopez are the first Spanish representatives at the dance festival. They developed their “Short Story of a Long Event” on a Mediterranean beach and will bring it now to the shore of Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem Lake on September 24 at 5pm.

“Urban Distortions” is the work of artist Pierra Larauza and choreographer Emmanuelle Vincent. The multicultural show unites Europeans, Africans and Asians.

The original version of "Urban Distortions" was the fruit of collaboration between the two artists and the young Vietnamese composer Nguyen Duc Trung Tuan and singer Suboi. 

Go to hanoidancefestival.com for the full 2017 schedule of performances.