The elaborately choreographed performances with difficult technical challenges, which were brought to the stage by Vietnamese contestants at the festival, reflected the development of the Vietnamese circus on the journey of conquering the public at home and abroad.
The 2022 International Circus Festival took place in Hanoi from December 2 to 7, witnessing the brilliant performances of nine domestic and foreign troupes.
The foreign troupes came from Canada, Belarus, Laos, Cambodia, and Egypt. Vietnam was represented by four troupes from Phuong Nam Art Theatre, Vietnam Circus Federation, Hanoi Circus and Variety Theatre and Vietnam School of Circus and Variety Arts.
The artists dazzled the audience with nearly 30 circus acts in various forms of acrobatics, juggling, balance, magic, and clowning.
Every show during the festival was crowded with audiences, who cheered up artists with non-stop applause and big wows, proving the attraction of the festival, as well as the enthusiastic appreciation of the public for circus art.
People's Artist Ta Duy Anh, Director of the Vietnam Circus Federation and Chairman of the Festival's Arts Council, said that the quality of acts at this year’s festival was significantly improved as compared to the previous editions.
The judges were surprised by the rising new young and promising talents at the event.
Prominent among the repertoires presented at the festival included the ‘Ball tossing’ (Cambodian team), ‘Leather strap’ (Lao team), ‘Silk rope’ (Canadian team), ‘Swing’ (Belarusian team), and ‘Balancing on tight rope’ (Vietnamese team). Which, many performances showed the artists’ creativity in staging, difficult techniques and diverse performing styles.
Notably, as the host of the festival, Vietnamese circus artists won the hearts of both domestic audiences and international colleagues, by showing off complicated movements, which required precise and skilful physical techniques, while introducing traditional Vietnamese culture through the use of props, costumes, and background folk music.
As a result, the five-member arts council, which included three foreign judges, unanimously awarded all three gold medals to the Vietnamese teams from the Vietnam Circus Federation, the Vietnam School of Circus and Variety Arts, and Phuong Nam Art Theatre.
Head of the Egyptian troupe, Waild Taha highly appreciated Vietnam's circus acts, which highlight traditional cultural features in unique ways of impression and style. For example, in an act with bicycles, Vietnamese artists blended the beauty of Vietnam’s countryside into their performance
The festival helped Egyptian artists to learn from our colleagues, from the way to structure the performance to the performing techniques, he said.
According to People's Artist Tong Toan Thang, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Circus Federation, Vietnamese circus artists have found the “key” to create their own colour and style, thereby affirming the position and value of the Vietnamese circus. “The Vietnamese circus was on the right track of development,” he stressed.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the festival, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ta Quang Dong, emphasised that to further develop Vietnam's circus, relevant agencies and functional units need to pay greater attention to increasing the artists’ professional techniques, so that they can catch up with the international level.
It is also necessary to work out preferential policies to attract and foster young and talented circus artists.
