At the festival, audiences were immersed in an art space full of colours, lights and music, with various unique performances by nearly 300 actors, actresses and artists from Vietnamese and international art troupes, including Mongolia, the Philippines and France.
Audiences were most impressed at water puppetry performances, Cham dance, performances with bamboo and bamboo tools, and a juggling circus that are imbued with cultural identities of three regions in Vietnam, as well as the traditional body dance by Mongolian artists, flute performance by world-famous artist Rahul Das and traditional and contemporary dances from the Philippines.
In addition to community stages, art performances, street performances and vaudeville, the festival featured two workshops on specialised skills training in performing arts under the instruction of Christine Schmalor, a theatre teacher and programme director from the World Theatre Training Institute AKT-ZENT under the International Theatre Institute (ITI). The workshops attracted the participation of several students in Phan Thiet City.
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Christine Schmalor from the World Theatre Training Institute AKT-ZENT speaks at the workshop within the framework of the festival. (Photo: An Khang Media) |
According to Director Le Quy Duong, who is also President of the Festival and Collaborative Theatre Committee (FACT) of ITI, with the slogan of “Connecting Creativity”, the festival was expected to become a bridge connecting the countries, cultures and artists from different continents, towards creating world peace and new creativities in the cultural and spiritual life of the country.
Speaking at the event, Prof. Tobias Biancone, Director General of the ITI, noted: “This World Performing Arts Festival is opening the borders and is bringing shows from other countries to Vietnam and making it possible for Vietnamese productions to travel abroad”.
The festival has opened the door for integration, exchange, sharing, companionship and future creative planning among the theatres, researchers and artists working professionally in the field of performing arts in Vietnam and across five continents.
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A street performance at the festival. (Photo: An Khang Media) |
The first World Performing Arts Festival left deep impressions on people, tourists and international colleagues and created the first premise to contribute to developing Binh Thuan into a new destination for tourism, culture and arts, especially performing arts.
Alvaro A.Franco R, an actor and producer from Colombia, said: “The feeling that I got is the rich cultural and artistic life within Vietnam, and spaces and events like this festival are opportunities to show a brief picture of the whole culture”.
The ITI highly appreciated the success of the festival and considered it a typical model in bringing performing arts to reach out to indigenous communities around the planet, as well as providing a professional and open creative space for artists to discuss, learn and share professional knowledge and practical experience, towards creating new creative values and shortening the cultural gap among the continents, regions and countries, for a world of peace, mutual support, solidarity and prosperity.
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Director Le Quy Duong (third from left) and several international experts and artists share about the festival and Vietnam's beauty. (Photo: MINH GIANG) |
According to Christine Schmalor, through festivals and education, the countries that have not been strong in performing arts have the chance to create new things.
Director Le Quy Duong was the first to lay the foundation for building unique festival brands for provinces and economic groups in Vietnam, promoting the tourism economy and selectively introducing Vietnam's cultural and artistic heritages to the world and vice versa.
“Previously, talking about performing arts, people thought of Europe, America, Japan and the Republic of Korea. However, through the festivals, Vietnam will become a destination of the world performing arts”, said Director Duong.
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Director Le Quy Duong is making careful prepartions for the festival. (Photo: An Khang Media) |
He also stressed that the organisation of the festivals means a space for all cultures and performing arts to create new artworks and cultural values.
The first World Performing Arts Festival 2023 was a bright spot during the 2023 National Tourism Year themed “Binh Thuan – Green convergence”, which was warmly welcomed by local people, visitors and international friends.
