VietNamNet Bridge – The Viet Nam National Opera and Ballet (VNOB) will perform ballet, folklore and contemporary dances featuring the tale of My Chau - Trong Thuy at Ha Noi Opera House on August 23 & 24. 

Meritorious Artist Phan Luong (standing) plays Trong Thuy. Photos courtesy of VNOB

Based on My Chau - Trong Thuy, the story about the reign of King An Duong Vuong in the 3rd century BC, the 90-minute work Moi Tinh Thanh Co (Love in Citadel) features the tragedy of the King’s daughter My Chau.

"The tale has been being staged by many theatres with different genres of art such as tuong (classical opera), cheo (traditional opera) and cai luong (reformed theatre), it is amazing to stage My Chau - Trong Thuy with dance," said Meritorious Artist Phan Luong. 

Luong plays Trong Thuy, and will perform ballet and contemporary dances. 

Legend has it that Au Lac, as Viet Nam was known years ago, was a kingdom where peace reigned. King An Duong Vuong built a new citadel and got a magic crossbow to protect his kingdom. Princess My Chau fell in love with Trong Thuy, a son of Trieu Da, the lord of a rival state that bordered Au Lac in the north, and the two wedded.

After the wedding, Trong Thuy asked for the secret of the crossbow, but My Chau declined at first. Finally she revealed the secret and her kingdom was promptly attacked. The king killed My Chau for her betrayal. In the end, the king who lost his country and the prince who lost his wife both commited suicide. 

The dance was staged by French choreographer Bertrand D’At under a culture co-operation project between the VNOB and French Cultural Centre in 2010. 

"Choreographer D’At is a skilful artist. He made good use of Vietnamese folk culture to put it in the dance," said dancer Luong. "He choreographed my role Trong Thuy quickly and he let me create dance movements based on his choreography".

With the modern view of the foreign choreographer the tale will be staged as a dream of a man waiting for his lover. When the tale ends the man wakes up and his lover comes, a happy ending unlike the traditional tale.

The dance show will feature artists of the VNOB and Viet Nam Dance College with videos to be shown on a transparent screen in front of the actors. 

The dance Moi Tinh Thanh Co has nine scenes featuring dance duet; solo dance and group dance.

VNS