Piece for 6 Performers
Duration: 55min
Premiered on 2 June 2017 at Rich Mix – London
“Pina Bausch meets Bill Viola, then along comes Dam Van Huynh. An intense, beautiful and profound work once seen never forgotten.”
– Eighteen London
Choreography: Dam Van Huynh
Music: Martyna Poznańska
Lighting: Antony Hateley
Photography: Pari Naderi, Brendan Bell, Barry Lewis
Performed by: Paul Davies, Marc Krause, Marta Masiero, Ieva Navickaite, Tommaso Petrolo, Marley Seville
“The living need light and the dead need music” – Vietnamese proverb
Đẹp is the Vietnamese word for beautiful. With his latest dance work, the UK based choreographer Dam Van Huynh explores influences from his South East Asian heritage. In Vietnamese culture, death is also a form of rebirth. When a person dies, the family and community enact rituals that will enable the deceased to pass into another realm, a higher state of being.
The work sees a shift in Van Huynh’s movement language as it delves ever deeper into the nature of the human condition. The dancers in ĐẸP are nude for a purpose. Fragile and vulnerable, their nudity literally strips them bare. Disrobed, free of distraction, their movement begins at the point where the mind transcends the physical self. Amplified and tracked by Martyna Poznanska’s numinous score, the movement in ĐẸP invites the audience to let go, reaching ever closer to the feeling of being alive.
Supported using public funding by Arts Council England
With further support by Centre 151, Citymoves Dance Agency, Canterbury Christ Church University
Winner of the Asian Arts Award for Best Direction 2018
★★★★ The Observer
“We, and the dancers are forcefully confronted with our frailty, but also, ultimately, with our capacity for regeneration. Life goes on.”
★★★★ Seeing Dance
“A powerful work with a terrible beauty all of its own.”
★★★★ Broadway Baby
“A raw and visceral production that transcends the need for verbal communication, Dep looks behind closed doors and stands defiantly in its appreciation of human fragility.”
Feature in the Guardian
“throughout Dep, I am on the edge of my seat.”
Upcoming Performances: ĐẸP
Previous dates:
2 & 3 June 2017 – Premiere, Rich Mix London
9 November 2017 – Homotopia Festival, Liverpool
25 & 26 November 2017 – Centro Cultural Los Talleres, Mexico City
7-9 December 2017 – Teatro Ocampo, Cuernavaca – Mexico
3 February 2018 – Canterbury Chirst Church University
3-18 August 2018 – ZOO Southside, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
24-25 Aug 2018 – 3:e Våningen, Gothenburg Dance & Theatre Festival – Sweden
11-12 October 2018 – The Lemon Tree, DanceLive Festival, Aberdeen – Scotland
28 February 2019 – Axis Arts Centre, Crewe
6 March 2019 – Lancaster Arts, Lancaster
13 March 2019 – Colchester Arts Centre, Colchester
14 March 2019 – Exeter Phoenix, Exeter
21 March 2019 – The Arts Centre, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk
3-4 May 2019 – Festival del Silenzio, Milan – Italy