Bamboo is a common material in Vietnamese daily life, but one that has a special place in the hearts of the people. In the Vietnamese Bamboo Circus, bamboo is used as more than props for some fascinating circus acts; it serves as an inspirational stepping stone for creative entertainment.

The performance of A O Show, a Vietnamese Bamboo Circus, at the Sydney Opera House.

It is used to build the set, which quickly transforms from one scene to another. That makes bamboo an essential character of the performance and it creates a uniqueness that sets this country's circus apart from others.

Music is one of many key characters in the Vietnamese Bamboo Circus.

The live music for each performance is an innovative harmony of 10 to 20 traditional, fork, tribal, and modern musical instruments. The music was composed along with each show, amplifying every movement and spontaneous emotion of the performers.

Audiences will experience a plethora of cultural highlights such as the gongs of highlanders, the plucked lute from the northern folk music genre, ca tru (ceremonial singing) and the bowed string from don ca tai tu or southern folk music.

These are all listed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritages of humanity.

Each Vietnamese Bamboo Circus performance is a representation of a different culture from a region in the country. Modern life is losing those charming scenes like people tending ducks in fields under the moonlight in the south, rituals to pray to the gods to bless crops in Central Highlands villages and the nights of romantic dating by girls and boys in northern villages.

The Vietnamese Bamboo Circus does not merely recreate those cultural activities but also conveys the soul of folklore through lights, sound and stage settings.

That makes the audience, whether Vietnamese or foreigners seeing for the first time, feel touched.

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Source: VNS/VNA