Opening ceremony, art program “Thăng Long Kẻ Nghệ”

Taking the flow of water as a throughline, eight works linked across three movements—“Mở nước,” “Thành phố,” and “Tiếp nối”—are expected to bring together 110 performers. The works subtly connect chèo, ca trù, xẩm, and traditional instruments with contemporary dance, electronic music, and lighting, leading audiences from the melodies and rhythms of Kẻ Chợ to the image of today’s creative Hanoi. In that flow, the xẩm voice and đàn bầu answer the trumpet; quan họ is continued by chorus; the tuồng art of Meritorious Artist Đặng Bá Tài meets opera voice Văn Thi in the finale. Two beatboxers Trung Bảo and Chiwawa, together with hip-hop dancers, bring the question of village memory into young people’s expressive language…

People’s Artist Trần Ly Ly serves as chief choreographer; Hà Nguyên Long and XplusX Studio are responsible for direction, stage and lighting design, connecting music with movement in a shared performance space like an “open water pavilion.” The meeting point of these practices lies in listening: the invitation and reply in quan họ, the singing and clapper beats in ca trù, the rhythm and gestures in tuồng. From there, the program evokes an image of a creative Hanoi nourished by memory and encounters between artistic practices.