In recent years, hand mime has drawn the attention of an enormous number of Vietnamese young people, especially the ones in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. However, this unique form of art has not been popular in Nha Trang City.
In recent years, hand mime has drawn the attention of an enormous number of Vietnamese young people, especially the ones in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. However, this unique form of art has not been popular in Nha Trang City.
Reportedly, hand mime started to be practiced in Nha Trang around a half of year ago. A hand mime program has recently been carried out at an event held in Au Lac Thinh Wedding - Conference Center (Nha Trang City). According to Au Hong, Director of Stars Co., Ltd. (Nha Trang), the company invited its partner in Ho Chi Minh City to introduce this unique art form to the people in the beach city. This form of art has attracted the interest of not only the event organizers but also the hotels, big restaurants and many young people in Nha Trang.
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| A hand mime performance |
“Hand mime is an art of representation by arrangement of hands; therefore, it does not require skills of a professional dancer. A hand mime dance troop often includes around ten members or more. The members wear black attire and white gloves. The black clothing and black light are used in a hand mime show. When all lights in the room where the show takes place are turned off and the black light is on, only the gloved hands are visible. The movements of hands need to be smooth and in a harmonious way to form shapes, words, and images accompanied by music”, said Nguyen Anh Toan, choreographer and leader of Number One dancing troop (Ho Chi Minh City).
According to Hong, the disadvantage of hand mime is that there are many people needed to perform a hand mime show; therefore, it is difficult to find the actors. A simple hand mime performance only requires about two days for rehearsal. However, it takes about one week to practice for a hand mime show with many words and shapes. In addition, a perfect hand mime performance also requires the solidarity among the actors and aptitude for dancing.
Pham Thai Tai, member of Sea & Sun Nha Trang dancing troop, said “Although I and some members in our group do not attend any dancing school, we feel interested and have passion for hand mime. Practicing hand mime has helped us to improve our patience, solidarity, physical health and understanding.”
Hopefully, in the future, hand mime will become more popular in Nha Trang City and favored by young people in particular and locals in general.
Thuy Duong - Nam Anh
Translated by H.N
