Brothers touch bronze at circus festival

Performer Giang Quoc Co and his brother Giang Quoc Nghiep have won a bronze at the 13th Latina International Circus Festival in Italy with their “Power of the Arms”.

The two artists, 27 and 22, also received auxiliary awards from circus producers Monte Carlo and Cirque du Soleil.

They had received a golden prize at the 2010 International Circus Festival in Vietnam and Grand Prix prize and Audience Award at the 2011 International Summer Circus Festival in Cuba.

They will take part in an international circus festival in China, then perform in Germany, the Netherlands and France.

12 national records set in Ba Ria - Vung Tau

The Vietnam Record Book Centre (Vietkings) on October 20 unveiled 12 Vietnamese records set in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province.

This is a result of the search for Vietnamese records that have been broken since 2009.

These new records include: Vietnam’s first tourism city in Vung Tau; the first and biggest oil and gas centre in Vung Tau; the first dictionary which explains ethnic languages in Vietnamese script; a project to install new solar energy light bulbs in the provincial Martyr Cemetery; the biggest national flag-shaped kite; a locality with the most sea port systems; the biggest private ancient weapon museum; an island with the longest history of revolutionary struggle in Con Dao; the biggest marine defense platform DK1; the biggest deep-water port; the longest gas pipeline;  and the eco-tourism resort with the largest artificial mountain lake.

VietKings has co-operated with the province to compile Ba Ria - Vung Tau Record Book from 2009-2011 which lists 108 World and 12 Vietnamese records in the areas of human, nature, historical events, culture-tourism, festivals, art, architecture, construction works, economics, science and technology, education-health-sports, and social life.  

Film on Vietnamese monk Thich Minh Chau released

A 140-minute film on religious life of monk Thich Minh Chau was released yesterday by Van Hanh zen monastery and the Sen Viet film studio.

The release marked Chau's 94th birthday. He was born in the central province of Quang Nam, gained a PhD degree in Buddhist studies in India and worked as a head of the zen monastery and vice-chairman of the Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha.

Australia university donates books to National Library

Australia-based La Trobe University donated 500 books to the Viet Nam National Library yesterday.

Covering different fields such as science, society, business and literature, the books would help enrich the library's foreign language section, said Allaster Cox, Australian Ambassador to Viet Nam.

"The Viet Nam National Library and the La Trobe University have built a good relationship," said Cox.

Last year the university donated 3,000 books to the library.

VOV’s radio feature wins international awards

The International Radio and Television Union (URTI) have presented a bronze prize to two VOV reporters, Ngo Thieu Phong and Giang Xeo Pua, for their feature on the culture of ethnic minority people in northern Vietnam.

The 23rd awards ceremony of URTI was held in Paris on the evening of October 20 as part of activities to celebrate 30 years of FM radio broadcasting.

The radio feature ‘Tieng may xay ngo va tieng ken goi ban tinh’ (Sounds of the corn grinder and leaf-horns seeking lovers) by Phong and Pua was highly appreciated by the 23rd URTI jury for its interesting content, technical quality and sound effects on the audience.

The feature highlights the traditional customs of Vietnam’s ethnic Mong group, which are being threatened by globalization.

The jury was very impressed by the unique way of dealing with poverty from cultural and spiritual angles, said Dan Santa, President for Radio of URTI.

At the ceremony, representatives of many radio stations talked with VOV reporters and expressed their wish to boost cooperation with Radio the Voice of Vietnam.

This year’s event on the theme ‘Poverty’, held for all countries, received 105 entries from 45 nations.

Macbeth comes to Vietnam

The Department of Performing Arts under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has cooperated with the British TNT Theater for ‘Macbeth’ written by William Shakespeare to come to Vietnam from October 26 to November 4.

The play is directed by Paul Stebbing, founder of the British TNT Theater, who has won numerous artistic awards.

The Scottish play, as it is referred to due to theatrical superstition as those in the business fear if you mention the word Macbeth in a theatre it will cause a disaster,   will be performed based on the original literary piece with the presence of witches and deities appearing from wild forests throughout the show.

The story’s protagonist is Macbeth, a brave war general whose soul is destroyed by blind ambition. His wife Lady Macbeth is a witch who calls for ghosts to release her but she is then possessed and destroyed by these wraiths.

The play will be performed at 8 p.m. daily from October 26 to 29 and 11 a.m. daily from October 26-28 at the HCMC Opera House, 7 Lam Son Square, District 1.

It then comes to Hanoi at 8 p.m. daily from October 31-November 2 with one showing at 11 a.m. on November 1 at the Hanoi Opera House, 1 Trang Tien Street, Hanoi.

The last destination of the Scottish play is at Trung Vuong Theater, 118 Nguyen Chi Thanh Street, Danang City at 8 p.m. on November 4.

Ticket prices range from VND300,000-VND700,000.

The British TNT Theater performed Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ in 2009 and 2010 in Hanoi and HCMC.
 
Young Vietnamese bewitched by crystal balls

Every afternoon 15-year-old Nguyen Phi Anh Quoc’s parents take him to Hoang Van Thu Park in Ho Chi Minh City.

Getting off their bike, he quickly walks away and mingles with a small crowd in a corner of the park who are completely preoccupied with some small crystals ball in their hands.

Somehow, the balls manage to roll swiftly and delicately on their hands and arms. One was trying to make it look like his ball was motionless while his body moved around it, another almost dropped his when attempting some harder tricks.

Quoc and the other young men who gather in the park every day are members of the Vietnam Contact Juggling Club (VCJC), the first group to take up this street art in Vietnam.

Le Van Linh, a student of the Vietnamese American Vocational Training College and leader of the club’s Sound Ball groups, said contact juggling had been created in the US in the 1970s by game designer and juggler James Ernest.

It involves body, hand, and arm movements to keep objects like balls in contact with the body.

“It has three main techniques: isolation, body rolling, and palm spinning which means manipulating two or more balls in the hands so that at least one ball is in motion,” Linh says.

“An expert can manipulate 10 balls at a time, though there are only a few in Vietnam who can do that.”

Isolation only requires manipulating one ball so that it appears to be suspended in one place, while body rolling requires a continuous flow of the balls on different parts of the body.

Good players are supposed to make an onlooker feel like they are playing with a weightless soap bubble. Music is very important for a contact juggling performance since it adds to the magical effect of the whole act.

Tran Dinh Tung, a junior at FPT University (HCMC), who introduced the art to HCMC and founded the VCJC, says he was immediately attracted when he first saw a video clip of contact juggling last January.

“I was so thrilled with that video by Okotanbe, a Japanese juggling master, that I decided I had to pursue it,”

It took him a whole month to find an appropriate crystal ball, finally finding one in a feng shui shop, which cost him a packet.

While jugglers in other countries opt for acrylic balls weighing around 650g, Vietnamese players prefer crystal balls weighing up to 1.5 kilogram, he explains.

The extra weight makes it harder to maneuver the balls but they look more beautiful, he opines.

“Newcomers to the club no longer have to search as hard as me since I have found a place in China that sells them at a reasonable price.”

To many club members like Linh, contact juggling helps get rid of unhealthy habits and hobbies. “I was addicted to computer games for quite some time, but since I got to know about juggling seven months ago, I have got so hooked on it that I do not want to waste time on video games any more,” he says.

Parents like those of Quoc are thus understandably supportive of the hobby which brings him more friends and weans him off computer games.

“Practicing juggling improves our flexibility and reactions; we can also train our concentration skills when we perform with the ball,” Quoc says.

The Vietnam Contact Juggling Club has more than 20 members and a crowd of young followers.

Tung says a number of small contact juggling groups in Dong Nai, Vung Tau, and Ha Noi have contacted him and suggested they should merge, “which shows it is becoming better known and accepted by young people.”

Hoi An beach ranked among world’s top 50

An Bang Beach in Hoi An has been ranked the world’s 43rd best beach by CNNgo.com, a travel publication of CNN.

Topping the list is Matira Beach in Tahiti in the southern Pacific .

“An Bang Beach has long been popular among locals for its gentle waves and soft white sand,” CNNgo said.

“Recently, it has picked up speed among expat tourists, which explains the Western-managed bars and restaurant along the waterfront. The bars are a great spot to mingle, but if you’re in a solitary mood, walk away from the main stretch and you’ll feel like you have the place to yourself.”

The four-kilometer beach is about 3km east of Hoi An.

Le Van Giang, head of the Hoi An people’s committee, said the city plans to pump more money into tourism projects.

Tourism ambassador cancels bike riding

Actress Ly Nha Ky, whose appointment as Vietnam’s Tourism Ambassador has caused a public debate recently, on Wednesday cancelled her plan to join a bike riding parade around Hanoi, surprising participants and the media.

As planned, Ky would join 30 students from local universities at 8 am to ride bicycles around main streets in Hanoi to urge people to vote for Ha Long Bay as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World on new7wonder.com.

She took part in the same activity in Ho Chi Minh City 4 days ago.But Ky showed up 30 minutes late at the Ministry of the Culture, Sport and Tourism at 51 – 53 Ngo Quyen and didn’t join the riding afterwards.

Explaining about the canceled plan, Nhat Hoang, director of the ministry’s Cultural, Sport and Tourism Promotion Center, said Ky canceled her trip because she didn’t want to block traffic since the time of the riding fell during rush hours.

“The parade gathering a lot of bikes will block other vehicles,” Hoang said.

“So we decided to divide 30 students into 3 small groups to cycle and call for votes.”
For her part, Ky said instead of taking part in the parade, she attended an important meeting with senior officials about future plans to promote Vietnam’s tourism.

TA