Hồ Chí Minh: A journey to explore the light within
As an artist, we usually try to express ourselves through the artwork we create.
However, sometimes the reverse may also happen -- instead of leaving our mark on what we create, we rather get inspired and driven by what we have created. Designing a biography dance theatre on the life of Hồ Chí Minh, former president of Vietnam, was such an experience for me.
Whenever I closed my eyes to imagine the Vietnam leader, I saw a pair of piercing eyes that could see through my soul. I could feel his struggles: living from hand to mouth to save every penny possible to buy a hand-press printing machine for printing leaflets to garner support for his cause of liberating his land.
It was a complex process to craft a production on Hồ Chí Minh's complicated and mysterious life, who had travelled the world with many pseudonames and disguises to garner support for Vietnam's independence and unification. Having observed the terrible impacts of colonialism and class struggle, he successfully led through rhetoric and revolutionary actions at the same time.
Three questions are always important for me while creating an artwork: What am I doing? Why I am doing it? And how it will be done?
The answers to these three questions, always provide me with the three most basic components of any production design -- the concept, motivation and methodology.
Initially, we read books and watched documentaries on Hồ Chí Minh's life and the World War II, and prepared the script.
The scenes are always blurry and floating when they are first imagined. I tried to mould and shape them by drawing sketches. Gradually they get clear, and eventually, they get life when these sketches were embodied by our performers on the rehearsal floor.
With the silent language of dance and theatrical techniques, we tried to portray Hồ Chí Minh's inclination to abolish inequality from society following the proven methods of his hero -- Lenin.
Narrating his entire life within a 40 minute long stage performance intended for international audience was a tough job. I tried to produce the performance in a more suggestive manner, with most of the dance movements being newly created in my studio, inspired by classical dance as well as meditational and martial art forms.
It was a challenging task for us to do a production on Hồ Chí Minh officially for the Government of Vietnam. We received enormous support from all officials of the Embassy of Vietnam in Bangladesh during this artistic endeavour. It is truly a matter of pride for me, my team of performers at Turongomi Repertory Dance Theatre and the students of Turongomi School of Dance, and my nation, to be part of exploring President Hồ Chí Minh's revolutionary journey through something creative and artistic.
Hồ Chí Minh himself had chosen his name, which means bringer of light. Let us all conquer our selfish self and shine together with our own light as we celebrate Hồ Chí Minh's life.
I would like to congratulate and convey my sincere regards to the people of Vietnam and the followers of President Hồ Chí Minh all over the world, on the occasion of his 130th birth anniversary.
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