Face the music: Local hip-hop dancers will perform a unique piece called Faces at the 11th Indonesia Dance Festival. — VNS Photo

HA NOI — Vietnamese hip-hop dancers will take part in the 11th Indonesia Dance Festival tomorrow, when a group of nine dancers and two musicians will perform a unique piece entitled Faces, choreographed by Raphael Hillebrand and Sebastien Ramirez, that includes spoken word, traditional Vietnamese music and theatrical elements.

The 65-minute performance will also tour Indonesia this month.

In the performance, beatboxing harmonises with the dan tranh, a traditional 16-string instrument, as the piece illustrates the different faces of Vietnamese youth. All artists wear masks during the performance, sending the message: "Are we covering up our faces in today's society?" Being young in a traditional yet rapidly developing country and coming to terms with non-conventional life choices, the young artists' testimonies are rich and diverse, deep and moving, and sometimes ironic.

Hillebrand and Ramirez are internationally known dancers and choreographers. Hillebrand lives in Berlin, while Ramirez works both in France and Germany. Both grew up immersed in the hip-hop culture, developing their own artistic language as they went.

Hillebrand researches contact points between dance and drama, as a performer and as a director, while Ramirez is known for his unique dance style and developing his own dramatic language as a choreographer.

Both have realised projects before in Viet Nam, as well as in Indonesia and Cambodia.

Faces was created in 2008 as a cultural co-operation project of the Goethe Institute Viet Nam and the French cultural centre L'Espace, with the support of Fonds Elysee. — VNS