Hue all set to celebrate biennial festival

Artists from 31 countries will perform at the biennial Hue Festival, the central city’s largest cultural celebration, next month. Themed “Cultural Heritage with Integration and Development” this time, the event will take place from June 5 to 13.
It will feature 40 art troupes from France, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Cambodia, Central African Republic, China, Cuba, Denmark, the UK, Poland, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Mexico, Mongolia, Norway, Russia, Scotland, Senegal, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and the US.
French artists would again play a big part in the festival, deputy chairman of the Thua Thien – Hue Province People's Committee and head of the festival’s organizing board, Ngo Hoa, told Vietnam News Agency.
The European country will send to the festival some renowned artists and art groups like sculptor Denis Tricot, photographer Sébastien Laval, the Siphon Cosmique Theater Group, and street dancers and performers from the Les Traine-Savates.
The nine-day festival will see a range of public performances like a circus, a human chess competition, installation art, music and dance shows, fashion shows, a food festival, a traditional marital arts tournament, a puppet show, and a kite festival.
Visitors can soak in the former royal atmosphere at the “Royal Palace by Night” program and a reenactment of the Nam Giao Offering, a royal ceremony to pray for good weather, peace, and prosperity for the people and the country, at the Nam Giao Esplanade.
The festival will be held mainly at the Hue Royal Citadel though there will be some events also at Nguyen Van Troi Park, Thuong Bac Park, Thuan An Beach, Lang Co Beach, and the Thanh Toan Tile-roofed Bridge.
Held for the first time in 2000, the Hue Festival has become an international festival of culture, arts, and tourism that showcases the former imperial city’s cultural heritage and promotes the image of Hue as a city of festivals.
In 2008 it featured 2,000 local and foreign artists who helped attract 180,000 tourists, including 30,000 foreigners.