HCM City (VNS/VNA) - The three-day Xposition ‘O’ contemporary dancefiesta (XPO) is introducing contemporary dance performances to localaudiences at the Soul Lie Project Complex in HCM City.

The festival, which opened on October 31, is taking place in Vietnamfor the first time, under the co-operation of the Odyssey Dance Theater(ODT) from Singapore and the Saigon Contemporary & Ballet DanceCompany (SCBC).

Established in 2001, XPO has become one of the largest dance festivals inAsia. Based in the prestigious Odyssey Theater, the festival has received majorglobal support and compliments from embassies, audiencesand artists worldwide through its tours and cultural exchange eventsin many countries such as Germany, Italy, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan(China), Laos, Thailand and Singapore.

Organised in Vietnam, the festival is expected to contribute to Vietnamesecultural arts and contemporary dance, and will be the connectionbetween Vietnamese and global contemporary dance organisations.

The first XPO Festival in Vietnam this year will showcase world-classperformances and international cultural exchanges with the participation offamous dancers Dr Danny Tan, art director of Odyssey Dance Theater(Singapore), the ODT international art troupe, and South Korean choreographersSun See & Pyoung Su.

Experienced Vietnamese contemporary dance companies are also offeringhigh-level performances from their famous artists,including choreographer Do Hai Anh, champion of the "So You Think YouCan Dance Vietnam" contest and art director of SCBC Vietnam dance company;choreographer Ha Loc, runner-up in "So You Think You Can DanceVietnam" and champion of the Contemporary Tremplin organised by theFrench Institute; choreographer Nguyễn Phúc Hùng, choreographerfor the HCM City Opera and Ballet; H'mong artist Sùng A Lùng who wona gold award at the National Youth Choreography Competition; dancerMai Trung Hiếu, and many other artists.

Explaining why the festival is being held in Vietnam, Danny Tan,Odyssey Dance Theater director, said: “The future development direction of thisco-operation is to develop talented artists and professional dancersin Vietnam and to create cultural exchange environments between Singapore andVietnam. In particular, I would like to support Do Hai Anh and SCBC Vietnam’sdancers to introduce Vietnamese dance talents to the world, starting withSingapore.”

In another development, SCBC Vietnam has announced that itwill bring more contemporary dance events to Vietnamese audiences.

SCBC Vietnam has the goal of becoming an arts company with a deep andmodern cultural spirit, focused on sustainable development, and outreach to thecommunity on an international scale. It aims to bring more contemporarydance programmes of an international scale to Vietnamese and Internationalaudiences.

Do Hai Anh, art director of SCBC Vietnam, and an artist participating inperformances as well as the organising board, shared that she was veryhappy to be a performer and an organiser this year to bring XPO to Vietnam.

"I hope this will be a promising start for me and SCBC Vietnam to organisemore bilateral international exchanges with other art troupes around the world,as well as to introduce Vietnamese culture through its performances atinternational events. In Vietnam, there aren't many activities for contemporarydance, and dancers have few opportunities for exchange experiences,so this is a chance for Vietnamese artists to interact and toexchange and learn from foreign directors, choreographers and dancers.Vietnamese dance troupes will also have the opportunity to practise togetherand stand together on an international level stage.”

The Saigon Contemporary & Ballet Dance Company specialises instage performances and was founded by artist and arts advocate Thanh Bui,dancer Do Hai Anh and director Dao Minh Vu.

SCBC Vietnam was born with an aim to build a sustainable, community-orientedcompany that creates cultural art pieces that mix culture, tradition andcontemporary art, inspiring Vietnamese art lovers and reaching outinternationally./.