Vietnamese and Singaporean dancers shine at contemporary dance festival

The Sai Gon Contemporary & Ballet Dance Company (SCBC) has partnered with Odyssey Theatre Singapore and the Bong Sen Traditional Music and Dance Theatre to commemorate the fifty-year diplomatic relationship between Vietnam and Singapore.

Founded in Singapore in 1999, the X Position ‘O’ International Contemporary Dance Festival has brought together over 40 international art troupes and 550 artists through international performance tours and cultural exchanges across the globe.

As part of the XPO Fiesta 2023 framework, X POSITION ‘O’ 2023 presents a captivating series of contemporary dance art activities, with four nights of performances held in Singapore, Hoi An City, and HCM City.

One of the performance nights took place in Hoi An City, Quang Nam Province in September of this year.

During the one-night performance, the audience is immersed in the artistic ambiance through two performances: Silence of Solitude and Yen Lam (The Peace of Blue).

These two performances flawlessly showcase the contemporary dance and folk elements of XPO Fiesta 2023.

While Silence of Solitude takes the audience on a journey into one’s inner self through the movement of various frequencies of sound, Yen Lam is a contemporary folk dance that depicts the search for original culture and intimate stories revolving around family.

Yen Lam recreates the spiritual life and cultural values of the Vietnamese people in the South, preserving the traditional values and beliefs of Vietnamese generations.

“The combination of folk elements and contemporary dance is conveyed through live music, especially in the Yen Lam performance,” said choreographer Huynh Doan Trinh, a representative of the Bong Sen theatre.

“The audience can feel the intersection of traditional and contemporary movements through the performance of the talented dancers and musicians. I hope the performance conveys a harmonious and profound artistic ambiance to the audience.”

X Position ‘O’ 2023 welcomes the return of SCBC’s choreographer and creative director, Do Hai Anh, who was included in the Forbes Vietnam Under 30 list in 2022.

The festival also features Danny Tan, founder and artistic director of Odyssey Theatre Singapore.

In addition to directing and choreographing over 150 dance shows, Tan has directed twelve prominent international dance festivals, including the X POSITION ‘O’ Contemporary Dance Festival held in Vietnam in 2019 and the DanzINC International Contemporary Dance Festival.

“This year, X Position ‘O’ features high-level performances that reflect the international cultural exchange between Vietnam and Singapore, with the participation of renowned dance performers from both countries,” said director Dao Minh Vu with SCBC.