HCM City to host Festival of Theater Schools-Asian Pacific Region

An International Festival of Theater Schools-Asian Pacific Region will be held in Ho Chi Minh City for the first time from September 5-10.

The event is being organized by the International Exchange and Training Center of Stage Performance of the My Phat Company, with the support from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, HCMC Stage Association, HCMC Dance High School and 5B Theater.

In all, 120 delegates and students of 15 drama theater and stage schools will participate in the event, including Australian National Theatre Drama School; University of Wollongong in Australia; China’s Shanghai Drama Institute; China’s National School of Drama; Indonesian Institute of the Arts Yogyakarta; Korean Hoseo University; Korea National University of Arts; Malaysian Sians University; National Drama Theatre of Mongolia; LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore; China’s Taipei National University of the Arts; The Faculty of Arts Chulalongkorn University; the Philippines’ Ateneo Drama School; and IPAG Stage Center of the Philippines.

According to Director Le Quy Duong, head of the organizing board, the Festival will present a series of performances, exchanges in performing skills, forums on stage training and practicing, and international cooperation.

Xa Loi Pagoda to exhibit glass paintings

A glass painting exhibit will be held at Xa Loi Pagoda in HCMC from Sunday until August 21, giving  visitors  a chance to admire the traditional art genre of artisans in the Mekong Delta.

Works are selected from a collection of about 1,600 pieces, made in varied themes from ancestor worship, decorations, landscapes, greeting and Buddhist images. For over a century, the art genre has existed and developed mainly in the Cho Lon area in HCMC’s District 5, Lai Thieu in Binh Duong Province, Go Cong and My Tho in Tien Giang Province, Cho Moi in An Giang Province and in the Khmer people’s community in Tra Vinh and Soc Trang. The paintings meet the demands for religion and fine arts of locals.

The pagoda is located at 89 Ba Huyen Thanh Quan Street in District 3.

Hoang Anh opens DJ school

Hoang Anh has opened up DJ training and production center 88DNA Academy in HCMC’s District 7 to help attract the best talent nationwide.

88DNA Academy has been established in an effort to popularize the DJing career to young Vietnamese people. The center will provide various courses from basic to advanced customized demands of students as well as being equipped with the most-up-to date equipment and facilities.

DJ Hoang Anh will also lure some of the world’s top DJs to give lectures at the academy. Besides providing basic music courses for wannabe DJs, the center will aim to develop students into professional music producers, especially in the dance and electronic genres which are popular with young clubbers.

To mark the school’s opening, Queens Of The Night produced by DJ Hoang Anh will be released this month featuring Vietnamese sopranos Ngoc Tuyen and Trieu Yen who will sing popular classical masterpieces with dance and ambient sounds mixed in.

Since winning first prize at a Heineken DJ contest in 2004, Hoang Anh has developed his career as a music producer, composer and arranger in electronic and dance genres.

88DNA Academy is located at A40 Road A4 Him Lam Residential Area, District 7, hotline 0942 009977.

Vietnam wins five gold medals at Asia Arts Festival

At the 11th Asia Arts Festival held in Singapore from August 8-11, the 11 member Vietnamese team won five gold medals and six silver medals.

The Vietnamese delegation mostly comprised of talented children from TED Saigon School of Arts and the Music Conservatory of Ho Chi Minh City.

Five Vietnamese students won gold medals, namely, Pham Nhat An, Nguyen Tuan Hai, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phi, Nguyen Dinh Anh Thu from TED Saigon School of Arts and Nguyen Pham Thanh Van from the Music Conservatory of Ho Chi Minh City.

Five countries participated in the Arts Festival, including Singapore, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

The Festival is held annually to create opportunities for young people in life skills, building relationships, and having cultural exchanges with other countries.

Trio to put electronic spin on reformed opera

Electronics musician Luong Hue Trinh will team up tonight with dan tranh (16-chord zither) artist Nguyen Thuy Dung and award-winning violinist Dao Van Trung to present a re-working of cai luong (reformed opera).

A blend of folk and classical music used in theatre, cai luong has been dragged into the modern electronic age by Trinh.

Trung will give a rendition of his cai luong-inspired composition Hon Viet (Vietnamese Soul), while Dung will add colour on the zither.

The trio will condense cai luong's theatrical history into their modern interpretation of the genre, which reflects their personal stories.

Entry from 9pm till 11.55pm at CAMA ATK, 73A Mai Hac De Street will be VND100,000.

Japanese culture highlighted at Hanoi Fukuoka Fair 2013

A Vietnam-Japan festival, themed “Fukuoka Fair in Hanoi 2013”, will be held at the Deawoo Hotel from August 29-31 to mark the 40th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties.

The three-day event, organized by Fukuoka province’s Youth Asian Cultural Center (YACC), will include various activities like Yosakoi, flashmob, and vocaloid dance, karaoke and a cosplay contest.

Cosplay, short for "costume play", is a unique Japanese performance art in which participants wear costumes and accessories adapted from a specific character or idea as copied from manga, anime, comic books, video games and films.

Visitors will also have a chance to enjoy special cuisine, to play traditional Japanese games and enjoy calligraphy demonstration.

In addition, there will be a contest to select a KAWAII ambassador to represent Asianbeat.vn in Japan next year.

Free entrance to the fair is available.

 New York Steakhouse presents ventriloquist

Famous French ventriloquist Christian Gabriel and his friend, monkey puppet Fredy, will entertain the city's residents from September 3 to 10.

The pair's performances will be arranged in both English and French.

Gabriel and Fredy have earned their popularity through TV shows in France, and performed in Patrick Sebastian's The Greatest Cabaret in the World.

They will perform at the New York Steakhouse, 25-27 Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street in District 1.

Secret Garden party at Saigon Outcast

The Saigon Outcast will host an overnight Secret Garden party, Midnight Rainbow starting next Saturday.

The party will include body painting, catwalk shows, dancing and art performances. Popular DJs including Knappe, Demon Slayers and Justin Starchild as well as the 3T Dance Group will perform during the event.

The event will take place from 3pm on August 24 to 11pm on August 25 at 188/1 Nguyen Van Huong Street in District 2.

Admission is for people aged 16 and above.

Club hosts musical prayer to the sun

The Darts Darts Darts Club will hold a music event called No Star Where: Sun Dance on Saturday.

The club will be decorated with teru teru bozu (Shine shine monks) used in a traditional Japanese prayer to the sun. All the dolls are made by street artist Liar Ben.

DJ Nam Viet from Australia and local DJs like Jase, Jin and Knappe as well as newly established rock band Danger from Dears will perform at the event, which will begin at 9pm.

The club is located at 224A Pasteur Street in District 3.

 Pechakucha returns to the Ly Club

Pechakucha, a presentation format in which 20 images are shown for 20 seconds each, will return to the Ly Club today.

The fourth Pechakucha Night, where young people exchange ideas, will have eight presenters talking about various topics including science, arts and technology.

The presentation will begin at 7pm. The venue is at 143B Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in District 1.

 Romance fair to flaunt bridal gowns

Brides- and grooms-to-be are invited to the full-day Romance Fair taking place at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi on Saturday.

Organised in collaboration with WedinStyle, the fair will feature a bridal runway show, gown galleries from standout designers, and beauty and photo workshops with local salons.

From 9am to 9pm, couples are invited to explore the Open Gallery of Vietnamese and Western wedding showcases. Wedding galleries and themed displays will be set up in two of the hotel's most elegant venues. A beauty workshop will take place at 2pm, followed by a photo workshop for couples at 3pm.

Couples booking wedding packages at the hotel during the event will receive a complimentary two-night stay at So Sofitel in Bangkok or a selected collection of other Sofitel hotels within Asia Pacific.-

 AmCham networking event to welcome all

The American Chamber of Commerce in Ha Noi will host its AmCham Networking Happy Hour Event tomorrow at the InterContinental Hanoi Westlake Hotel&Resort.

Starting from 6.30pm, guests will enjoy a variety of finger foods and drinks.

Bring friends, family and colleagues to the event, where they can meet other professionals. No registration is needed.

Vietnamese film makers to seek deals at Asian expo

Vietnamese film makers will attend the Asian largest marketplace for film and television products scheduled for October in Japan-the event that will allow them to get closer to the film making industry in the region and the world.

ADPEX Company, in combination with the event’s organising board, will select five domestic communications agencies and TV stations to represent Vietnam at the exhibition, which marks the 10th year of the multi-content film and television market in Asia.

The exhibition will serve as a meeting place for domestic film studios and TV stations to seek possible business deals with leading Asian and international partners including those from Spain, the US and the Republic of Korea.

As part of the Tokyo International Film Festival slated for October 22-24, the exhibition will coincide with the Tokyo Music Market and the Tokyo International Anime Festival.-

Mekong Delta region fine arts exhibition opens

More than 230 works are on display at the 18th Mekong Delta Region Fine Arts Exhibition which opened on August 14 in Bac Lieu province.

The exhibition includes paintings, graphic works, sculptures and installations by over 200 artists from the Vietnam Fine Arts Association (VFAA) and 13 provinces in the region.

The exhibits feature the beauty of the region’s landscapes as well as the daily life of local people. In addition, the artists also focused on reflecting Vietnam’s seas and islands.

The Arts Council of the VFAA presented prizes to seven outstanding works including one A, one B and one C, along with four honorable mentions.

The Council will introduce 15 works to be nominated for the 2013 Literature and Arts Awards of the National Committee of the Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations.

The exhibition, which runs through September 4, is held to celebrate the 68th anniversary of the August Revolution (August 19) and Vietnamese National Day (September 2).

Source: VNA/SGGP/VNS/VOV