VI00000168

As a UNESCO category 2 center, ICHCAP organized the youth ICH storytelling contest with the aim to support ICH safeguarding activities of young practitioners. Youth practitioners play an essential role, as ICH relies on direct transmission among community members. Their activities and involvement will hopefully contribute to raising awareness of ICH worth protecting. The story below won the Grand Prize of the 2019 Asia-Pacific Youth ICH Storytelling Contest. --------------------------------- The Hát Bội is Vietnamese intangible traditional performing art which has taken shape, developed during Vietnam history and is still preserved. The Hát Bội is form of traditonal opera which has a 500 old year long history of development in Vietnam. It contains features close to the culture in many other countries in Asia. My name is Anh Quan, I am sophomore of The Ho Chi Minh City University of Culture in Vietnam. When I started in junior high school, I had opportunity to study and enjoy The Hát Bội. These images, stage, eyes, gestures of The Hát Bội are so excited. But I strongly impress by artists’ face. This emotion is always with me in my thoughts. When I have been a student. Immediately, I go to The Ho Chi Minh city Hát Bội Theater to learn more about this art. Hát Bội relies on the principles of symbolization and stylization. These principles prodoundly influence Hát Bội typical dance/ gesture and makeup by which Hát Bội in distinguished from other traditional performing arts. Being the essences of Hát Bội, gesture and dance are perfomrmed based on several rules of symbolization and stylization with the aim of sophisticatedly expressing the feeling and emotion of characters and other implications of plays. These artists of Hát Bội have to understand very well about principles of symbolization and stylization and when they makeup and. Makeup is definitely the outward essence Hát Bội indicate the specific and personality of every character. The articial materials for making-up a disguise includes as followings: Multi-colours-lipsitcks, powder in multi-colors, the balckening-wax or the ash-like-black powder, the zinc-powder in golden-red– a mixture of the deep-red and golden powder, powder in blue, in green, and in yellow. With many special kinds of professional tools, such as: Tooth sticks, fingernail like kinife flat which look like a spoon – flat and made of wood. I observe artists makeup , I dream that i can makeup like them. I want to pursue my dream of being one of characters of Hát Bội. With the help of Thanh Bình Artist, I have fulfilled my dream. I feel virtuosity, sophistication and passion of Thanh Binh Artist when he makeup for me. The face painting in an original feature in Hát Bội as well as in some forms of opera in Southeast Asia .The make-up in Hát Bội ( chiefly for male personages , rarely for female ones) includes three main parts : painting the complexion, drawing lines on the face and pasting false beards. There is nothing called the realistic things to identify but absolutely living - symbols in the art of the Hát Bội with its speical ways of disguiting for whole characters at all. Looking at the face makeup, the audiences can understand wether a character is good or bad, loyal or disloyal, etc. Below are some basic colour used in Hát Bội makeupnRed: Loyal, unyielding personnWhite: artful flatterernGreen: intelligent person or person with venturesome spirit or short lifenYellow: gentle and virtuous personnBlack: Furious and vigorous personnThat is the dialectics of the art of theatrical masks attained by masterly (mask makers, makeup, artist). nThe above special things may be generally get a common concept for us all to comprehend some intersted – things in many kinds of the characters and characteristics in traditional culture and art of the Hát Bội. The Hát Bội has any characters. Currently, plays of Hát Bội are mainly performed at the temple (or shrine). The young generation do not strongly like the traditional art include The Hát Bội. Few young people are passionate about traditional art, this situation make the training for young people quite so difficult. For make youth generation learn more about The Hát Bội. Over the past years, The Ho Chi Minh city Hát Bội Theater has organized program called “The school stage” to introduce The Hát Bội to pupils and students. This program around the content: history of formation and development of The Hát Bội, dance, and makeup art. Besides that, performance of historical topics, excerpts about children to raise patriotism, hope students have the opportunity to learn more about The Hát Bội. I think this working is very well for young people. That thing will make me and young people will love and have positive emotion with the traditonal stage. I hope The Ho Chi Minh city Hát Bội Theater always create other program to performance for community. To get deeply understanding about Hát Bội, warmly welcome to The Ho Chi Minh city Hát Bội Theater – Vietnam. I am so happy when I have chance to get experience and share excited valid content of The Hát Bội for every body. Vietnam also has so many traditonal arts. The Hát Bội is one of them. For protecting and delivering The Hát Bội, I think the young generation have to focus on studing intangible culture of country. I aslo contribute a little working for do that. I hope other young person will do that like me. I am going to keep my passion to learn more about traditonal of Vietnam also the other coutries over the world. Vietnam - a friendly destinaton always warmly welcome all of you, we have so many stories to talk with you. When you meet me together, I am going to “play” the Hát Bội for you. Because I really become “an actor” of The Hát Bội by my heart in my dream.

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Vietnam 2019