German, French, Vietnamese dancers stage Faces

A dance performance featuring traditional music and hip-hop dance will be staged in Ha Noi and HCM City this week.

Faces is a work of German and French choreographers, Raphael Hillebrand and France Sebastien Ramirez, in collaboration with two musicians from Ha Noi, Hoang Thi Thanh Hoa and Ha Dinh Huy.

Nine Vietnamese dancers from well-known hip-hop groups, including Big Toe, Milky Way and Scared Crew, will wear faces that signify modern problems of youth.

The performance was created in 2008 as a collaboration between Goethe Institute Viet Nam and L'Espace – French Cultural Centre Ha Noi, supported by the Elysee Fund.

Performances will take place on Friday at the Tuoi Tre (Youth) Theatre in Ha Noi, and on Sunday at the Ben Thanh Theatre in HCM City.

Free tickets are available at the Goethe Institute in both cities from today. Faces will also travel to Paris and Berlin.

Photograph exhibition on cultural life opens

A photograph exhibition, entitled “All people unite to build a cultural lifestyle” opened at the Exhibition House, 45 Trang Tien, Hanoi, on February 20.

Among 3,000 entries sent to the contest by 600 artists, 8 photographs and 3 collections were awarded by the jury at the opening ceremony. 

The first prize went to Trinh Te Ha (HCM City)’s “Telling the story” and the second prize to Vu Thi Huong (Vinh Phuc Province)’s “Ca Kheo performance”. Three third prizes and 3 consolation prizes were presented to other photographers.

Nguyen Thi Huyen (Hanoi) won the first prize for her collection, entitled “Cu Da Mien village”, Vo Thi Huynh Chau (My Tho city, Tien Giang) got second prize for “Boi singing”, and Hoang Ngoc Thach (Hanoi) third prize for his “Buffalo thrusting festival”. 

150 other photos were also chosen for the exhibition which will last until February 26.

Nha Trang ranks second as best pageant host city

Beauty pageant website Globalbeauties.com has announced the winners of the Global Beauties Awards 2011 in categories including Best in an Evening Gown, Face of the Year, Best Host City and Sexiest Woman Alive.

The website ranks Nha Trang City, in the central coastal province of Khanh Hoa which hosted Miss Earth 2010 as the second best host city after Sanya, China.

Miss Earth Viet Nam Luu Thi Diem Huong stands in third place in the Best in Asia category after Miss Earth India Nicole Faria and Miss Universe Philippines Venus Raj.

40,000 maps of Hoi An given free to tourists

Quang Nam Tourism Association and the Hoi An City People’s Committee on February 20 started delivering maps of Hoi An to both local and foreign tourists.  

Sea Festival to spotlight Spratly Archipelago

The fifth biennial Sea Festival will be held in the central coastal city of Nha Trang on June 11-15 with the Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelago as a key topic.

Khanh Hoa People's Committee deputy chairman of Le Xuan Than said the festival would introduce the archipelago in a photo exhibition, a music show and a conference on the Truong Sa District.

Various activities will be held at Nha Trang and Doc Let beaches in Ninh Hoa District and Bai Dai Beach in Cam Lam District of Khanh Hoa. Such events like the Salagane Festival, Miss Khanh Hoa contest and Made-in-Viet Nam Goods Fair will be held for the first time.

The festival will open with a fireworks display. The provincial authorities expect foreign partners from France, South Korea, Cuba and Japan to join in the event.

The festival will also host many environment protection activities including rubbish clean-up in the city and a scientific conference on preserving Nha Trang Bay.

VNN/VOVVNS