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ANNEX 1
DROUGHT AND RAIN – TWO MEMORIES, TWO GENERATIONS
Programme
Drought and Rain
With elderly village women from the North Delta of Vietnam
Drought and Rain Vol. 2
With The Vietnam National Opera Ballet – Hanoi
Choreograher’s Notes
Drought and Rain (originally created in 1995)
From my research on music and dance, I wanted to create a work which questions the
history of my first country – Vietnam. It was a contemporary work which engages the
body, the memory and the reflection on the collective and the individual. The performers
of Drought and Rain, aged from 70 to 85 years old, are women peasants from the delta
of North Vietnam. They are non-professional dancers. They were the virgin young
dancers who knew only one dance, their village dance, an ancient tradition. The
convention was that only young girls performed the traditional dance, but these young
girls – today old ladies, guardian of tradition – had to abandon their dance because of
the war. In a world tour from 1995 to 1996, these women have been able to dance again
in a contemporary dance work on the memory of war.
Drought and Rain Vol.2 (originally created in 2005)
In 2005, with the dancers of the Vietnam National Opera Ballet, Hanoi, I re-visited the
theme of the memory of war to interrogate and understand what a young person thinks
and feels about a war that he or she does not know but sees through the overloaded
images on the television screen? How does a virtual memory trigger an act of
conscience and gives birth to an attitude of non-violence? The dancers of Drought and
Rain Vol. 2 are between 20 to 30 years of age from the Vietnam Opera Ballet of Hanoi
who usually work on classical dance repertoire. They worked for the first time with me,
engaging in an individual reflection on the memory – the war memory, in the space of
our world today.
Ea Sola
ANNEX 2
DROUGHT AND RAIN – TWO MEMORIES, TWO GENERATIONS
Choreographer’s Profile
Ea Sola
Ea Sola grew up in the South of Vietnam where she left in 1974. She arrived in Paris in
1978. From 1978 to 1984, she created underground “happenings” outside of institutions,
studied classical theatre, and participated in research workshops of the Grotowski’s
dance theatre group. From 1980 to 1990, she created her own working group to explore
the memory of the body and created a series of happenings in collaboration with the
magazine Diagonal. She was a dancer in Sacre du Printemps by Min Tanaka and
dancer-choreographer in Ubu Roi of Roland Topor. In 1989, Ea Sola returned to
Vietnam after 15 years of absence. From 1991 to 1996, she held the Leonardo da Vinci
scholarship and undertook research on traditional dance and music of Vietnam. She
then received the Villa Médecis hors les Murs award and continued her research on the
music Tai Tu in the delta of South Vietnam.
She has created five productions with professional and non-professional artists: Drought
and Rain (1995); Once upon a time it was (1997); La Rizière des musiques (1998); Voilà
Voilà (1999); Requiem (2000) and toured throughout Europe, America and Asia. The
international stage discovered through these pieces the people who had lived through
and fought the heaviest war in the history of contemporary world. In her long journey in
Vietnam, Ea Sola has engaged in a process of reflection on the memory, the tradition
and modernity. In these works, the performers appeared as the people they were, in the
light of a legitimate modernity.
She concluded this process in 2000 with the creation of Requiem. Throughout her
career, she was accompanied by prestigious partners who have co-produced or
supported her journey: Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, Kunsten Festival des Arts of
Brussels, Spoleto USA, Lincoln Center in New York, Festival d’Automne of Paris, Fest
der Kontinente in Berlin, EXPO 2000 at Hanover, and the Singapore Arts Festival.
Ea Sola has taken on her quest of identity: the identity of people and of an individual.
She now develops a contemporary work on dance and music in Asia.
Music Composer’s Profile
Nguyen Xuan Son
Nguyen Xuan Son is a musician and composer for percussion and traditional
instruments. From 1989 to 1994, he studied at the School of Traditional Music and was a
percussionist at the National Theatre Cheo. He was the percussionist and music
assistant for the creations of Company Ea Sola from 1994 to 2002. Amongst his
compositions for percussion and string instruments are Exit, Études 1 for percussions,
Dans la nuit, and Visage 1. He composed the music for the film Bride of Silence and the
video works Alone, Truong Chi and Visage 2. In 2005, he composed the music for
Drought and Rain Vol.2 by Ea Sola.
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ANNEX 3
DROUGHT AND RAIN – TWO MEMORIES, TWO GENERATIONS
Drought and Rain (originally created in 1995)
with elderly village women from the North Delta of Vietnam
Conception, choreography, dramaturgy, sound, set and costume
Ea Sola
Musical arrangement
Nguyen Xuan Son, Ea Sola
Lyrics
Nguyen Duy
Dancers
Nguyen Thi Thoi, Nguyen Thi Riu, Bui Thi Ruoc
Doan Thi Luu, Ngo Thi Thop, Le Thi Canh, Lai Thi Be
Ngo Thi Cat, Ngo Thi Tuong, Trinh Thi Ram, Doan Thi Ket,
Nguyen Thi Xuan, Nguyen Quang Dat, Ea Sola
Singers
Doan Thanh Binh (The Rain)
Pham Van Mon (The Sun)
Doan Thi Ket (The Anonymous)
Musicians and Chorus
Nguyen Xuan Son, Hoang Van Thinh, Cao Dinh Luu
Nguyen Duc Muoi, Pham Quoc Chi, Doan Thanh Binh
Pham Van Mon
Set Construction
Robert Petit
Costume Maker
Nguyen Van Truong
Figurine Maker
Dang Dinh Nghia, Dao Anh My
The original production of Drought and Rain in 1995 was co-produced by Kunsten
Festival des Arts – Brussels, l’Hippodrome – Scène National de Douai and Company Ea
Sola
Drought and Rain Vol.2 (originally created in 2005)
with the Vietnam National Opera Ballet – Hanoi
Conception, choreography, image, scenography, light, set and costume
Ea Sola
Music
Nguyen Xuan Son
Dancers
Duong Thi Thanh Hoa, Nguyen Thi Can, Nguyen Thi Chuc
Quynh Nguyen Thi Quynh Nga, Nguyen Thi Thu Huong
Pham Van Duc, Nguyen Manh Hung, Trinh Tuan Anh
Quach Hoang Diep, Cao Duc Toan, Nguyen Hong Phong
Nguyen Tho Duong
Singer
Doan Thanh Binh
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Musicians and Chorus
Nguyen Xuan Son, Cao Dinh Luu, Hoang Van Thinh
Nguyen Duc Muoi, Pham Quoc Chi
For the Singapore tour of Drought and Rain – Two Memories, Two Generations
Production manager
and Lights
Carlos Perez
LED Lights
Takayuki Fujimoto
Sound
Yoshihisa Fukuhara
Stage manager
Simon Fritschi
Video production
Brian Ring, Ngyuen Sy Bang
Assistant to choreographer
Mai Chi Thanh
Tour management
Company Ea Sola
The creation of Drought and Rain – Two Memories, Two Generations in 2006 is coproduced by Movimentos Festwochen der Autostadt in Wolfsburg (Germany) and
Company Ea Sola.
The original production of Drought and Rain Vol. 2 was co-produced by Théâtre de la
Ville (Paris), Singapore Arts Festival, New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA)*,
L’Espace - French Cultural Centre (Hanoi), Vietnam National Opera Ballet (Hanoi) and
Grand Theatre of Groningen (Holland).
Residency of creation: Grand Theatre of Groningen.
With the help of the Ministry of Culture of Vietnam.
* Drought and Rain Vol. 2 was made possible with the participation of Doris Duke Fund
for Dance of the National Dance Project, a programme administered by the New
England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) with the financement from National Endowment
for the Arts, the Foundation Doris Duke Charitable, and the Foundation Ford.
This performance in Singapore is supported by Cathay Pacific Airlines.
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