Circle of Vietnamese identity...

Male actors perform a dance with drums in a scene from the play “Straw”. Photo: DaiNgo Studio

A field appears in the distance

The contemporary dance “Rom” has just officially debuted in Hoi An with a fullness of emotion and art, marking the names of Tan Loc and Duc Tri. From “Rom”, the Vietnamese public has known the connections between contemporary dance art and nature, with the stage being the vast horizon amidst the rustling sound of rice waves.

“Straw” - the name itself simply evokes in the depths of life a thought about human destiny. The haystack in the yard has never been separated from the perception of the Vietnamese village. Perhaps in the midst of some wandering sky, a wisp of smoke from the distant fields is enough to evoke vague losses. Smoke and straw, like two pairs of mutually supportive categories, create an interaction that touches the emotions.

Throughout the contemporary dances by choreographer Nguyen Tan Loc, there is a flow of Vietnamese culture. Or rather, it is the “quest for identity” that never stops for those who are always concerned with the national spirit. Visual art not only moves people with images and sounds but also with the layers of thought in each line and style.

Choreographer Tran Van Thinh and his role in “Rom”. Photo: DaiNgo Studio

In the middle of the field with the fading afternoon sun, the straw strands are wrapped into blocks, sometimes fragile, sometimes tight. Duc Tri's music always has a folk color, sometimes strange, sometimes familiar but never boring. In "Rom", he freely brings the Vietnamese countryside in his memory with melodies of the Central and Southern regions or the Northern Delta with the sounds of drums, flutes, and storks...

Watching "Straw", each person is reminded of a distant village field...

The return

In 2020, a group of wicker workers in their 70s at the headwaters of Thu Bon River made a trip to Saigon. For the first time, the well-dressed old farmers and forest workers attended an exhibition. They were not awarded the title of artisans, but for three consecutive years, they and artist Trung Nghia focused on creating 10 works of art from bamboo strips and otter oil, in a collection called "The broken basket still has the bamboo bank". Trung Nghia used bamboo to talk about nature, and used old workers to talk about people. All of this is like an opening up of national memories, a reflection on contemporary life.

Identity is the opening idea and will never end with the artistic concerns of each person who loves their homeland. Through the artistic method, each artist participates in social life, raising the voice of national pride from their own strong language. Trung Nghia, Nguyen Tan Loc or many other contemporary artists, they are doing what is most natural in their hearts.

In the circle of identity, the search for national values ​​also has the steadfastness of those who practice traditional professions. If artists read life through the losses of the past and try to cling to them, then those who live by the breath of traditional professions, from the unconscious, have kept their profession through the misfortunes of fate. Of course, despite being trampled many times, the descendants who follow their ancestors still follow the profession. It is the invisible bond from the rhythm of life that makes them do the profession as a natural thing.

People decipher the cultural spirit of the hundred-year-old traditional craft villages of Quang Nam, precisely in its natural logic. Using natural materials, and being “respectful” to nature. Moreover, people in the craft villages respect their ancestors and family. In the midst of “cultural exchanges”, fortunately, the ego of the craftsmen is strong enough to not be too violated.

The purity of Thanh Ha red pottery or the sophistication of the new glaze color from the young craftsmen, in the end, all serve to preserve the name of Thu Bon as an ancient pottery village. The delicately carved reliefs from the Kim Bong carpentry guild, the only connection, also originate from the principle of touching the gables, the secret... in sacred works.

I sat listening for hours to the stories of the artisans, old and young. There was always a signal of a return, strangely enough!

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/vong-tron-ban-sac-viet-3141112.html