Le Vu Long’s dance group practices for a Japan-funded contemporary dance performance

Vietnam and Japan artists rocked a Hanoi theatre for one night on Thursday with a Japan-funded contemporary dance performance.

Earlier this year, Japan Contemporary Dance Network (JCDN) and the Japanese Nippon Foundation approached Long, a pioneer of contemporary dance in Vietnam, about the performance and they joined hands to produce the show on the Tuoi Tre Theatre Stage.

The dance, as part of the We’re gonna go dancing project, was inspired by Long’s idea that the barriers in thinking are many times bigger than geographical barriers and it is those ideological barriers that are the enemy keeping people and societies apart.

Long has been known since 2002 when he created his first piece of contemporary dance Noi den (Destination), named after a dance group of ten deaf people, with only VND11.5 million (US$646).

As contemporary dance focuses on bringing out the dancers’ emotions and creativity, Long said he believed he could find those elements in deaf people, who have never danced or attended a professional dancing class.

They don’t need to dance at all, he said. “The important thing is they can successfully demonstrate the story and their own feelings.”

During a workshop on Sunday, the Japanese choreographer Ikuyo Kudora tried to involve the deaf dancers in Thursday’s performance by suggesting they do a five-minute piece but Long rejected the idea saying, “A serious piece cannot be made in four days – it takes at least three or four months.”

Two Japanese-choreographed dances were also introduced during the free Thursday night show.

For the past year Long had nothing to do at the Opera Theatre so he continued working with Noi den, which has expanded its members to 12.

Some of the original members had left because they couldn’t afford to volunteer their time any longer and had been replaced.

“That is dance - no promise, no plans,” said his wife Luu Thu Lan, a dancer with more than 15-year experience who gets paid VND2.5 million a month by Vietnam Opera Theatre.

To participate in the We’re gonna go dancing project, the couple and all the other artists are only supported VND9 million from the theatre.

As well as sponsoring Ke thu va nhung vung dat, the Nippon Foundation is providing assistance to the Noi den group which helps them for example afford air conditioning in their practice space.

Reported by Y Nguyen