The distance of more than 200km from Lai Chau city, Lai Chau province to Dien Bien Phu city, Dien Bien province seemed shorter when the driver played songs about the Northwest region for us throughout the journey. That's right, because if you haven't seen the xoe dance in the Northwest, there's nothing better than listening to Thai folk songs.
Members of the Hong Lech Cang village art troupe, Thanh Chan commune, Dien Bien district, Dien Bien province perform Thai xoe dance. (Photo: DANG KHOA)
And we became even more excited about the trip to Hong Lech Cang village, Thanh Chan commune, Dien Bien district, where we all had the opportunity to enjoy the unique features of a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
Love from the shirt to the song and dance
Only about 11km from Dien Bien Phu city, but the road to Hong Lech Cang village is quite difficult to travel. The day we arrived, it was not raining but because it was dry, the road under construction became dusty and bumpy. The hardship and difficulty of traveling only stopped when the car took us to the village cultural house.
In the courtyard of the cultural house, nine graceful Thai girls in traditional costumes, heads covered with colorful embroidered Piêu scarves, shouldered with ép (an item carried when working) with bright smiles are performing dance movements depicting daily activities such as fishing, sowing seeds, planting trees or bathing in the stream. In the afternoon sunlight shining through each pillar of the stilt house, surrounded by green trees and a quiet space filled with only the chirping of birds, it is as if this is a slow-motion movie rather than a rehearsal of the Hong Lech Cang village art troupe.
And there, once again we heard the song Dien Bien Joyful Spring performed by Meritorious Artist Hong Lien, which the driver had played on the way from Lai Chau city to Dien Bien Phu city the night before. The lively lyrics to the Thai folk song melody, carrying many emotions about the people of Dien Bien and the joyful spring atmosphere in the season of Ban flowers, could not be more appropriate. Perhaps that is why the dance movements of the girls of Hong Lech Cang village became more and more rhythmic and graceful, captivating and enchanting us.
After the dance, Ms. Vi Thi Dinh, the leader of the Hong Lech Cang village art troupe, raised her voice to invite: Without xoe, the corn plant will not grow ears/ Without xoe, the rice plant will not bloom/ Without xoe, boys and girls will not become couples. We invite our distinguished guests to come out to the yard, hand in hand, in a loving xoe circle.
While watching the xoè dance with gentle, graceful and flexible movements. Artist Tong Trung Chien, who has been with the Hong Lech Cang village art troupe since 2007 and is currently the Vice Chairman of the Thai Cultural Club of Dien Bien province, explained to us that it is the "kham khen" dance, which means holding hands and dancing together. This is the basic xoè dance in the folk dance of the Thai people, formed during the labor process from the beginning. When hunting an animal, whenever there is joy in the family or community, everyone holds hands and dances around the fire.
These are also the first basic movements that serve as the premise for developing into the next xoe dances and into unique folk dance works. In addition, the xoe dance has the meaning of expressing community cohesion whenever there is joy in dancing together and when facing difficulties and hardships, the community still holds hands together to overcome.
When all the members of the Hong Lech Cang village art troupe returned to the foot of the stilt house, Ms. Vi Thi Dinh added that Thai Xoe includes round Xoe, ritual Xoe, and performance Xoe, with six basic movements: kham khan moi lau (raising the towel to invite wine), pha xi (splitting four), don hon (advancing and retreating), nhom khan (throwing the towel), om lom top mu (clapping hands in a circle), and om lom kham khan (holding hands in a circle).
Starting from six basic xoe dances, up to now, the Thai people in the Northwest in general and Dien Bien province in particular have developed 36 xoe dances. However, the "kham khan" dance is popular because it can be danced by all ages, men and women, and this xoe dance is suitable for all cultural activities of the community.
However, the idea that xoè is always associated with Thai life and culture does not mean that the Thai people do not make efforts to preserve, maintain and promote artistic values. The establishment of the Hong Lech Cang village art troupe in 2002 also had that purpose, when Vi Thi Dinh herself and many other women in the village were aware that if they loved the culture and art of the community, they should be aware and responsible for preserving and maintaining the cultural identity of the Thai people, including xoè, so that the young generation would know about xoè, ancient dances and more broadly, the folk cultural forms of the Thai people.
It is admirable and admirable that in 2002, Vi Thi Dinh was only 24 years old and it was not until 20 years later that Thai xoe was recognized as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity, yet at that time, this young girl understood the importance of national cultural identity and xoe. It can be seen that Vi Thi Dinh was aware of how to preserve, perform, and bring dances and songs to everyone, so that everyone would know about xoe and the culture of the Thai people.
Recalling those early days, Vi Thi Dinh’s voice could not help but choke up with emotion. Because life was still difficult at that time, the sisters had to both spread the word to the villagers and encourage each other after tiring days of work, so that everyone could focus and practice in the evening. At that time, it was the attention of the local cultural leaders that helped them gain more motivation and determination.
Because Thi Dinh confided: In her life, if her generation does not do it, the next generation will not know about the national culture and everything will gradually fade away. Will they still consider themselves Thai by then? She herself did not like wearing Com when she went to school, before she understood that this was the traditional costume of her people, and now, she wears Com all day without feeling uncomfortable because she loves and cherishes this cultural feature.
Just like Thai folk songs, before, Vi Thi Dinh listened to Thai folk songs without understanding anything, but since joining the art troupe and receiving training, she gradually understood the cultural identity of each ethnic group and each region and loved and was more determined to preserve and conserve the culture of the Thai people.
Fortunately, Hong Lech Cang village does not have only one Vi Thi Dinh.
Community effort
In fact, the existence of the Hong Lech Cang village art troupe for over 20 years is something to be cherished, as each generation has made efforts to pass on the Thai ethnic culture to the next generation. From those who were initially attached to the troupe such as Vi Thi Dinh, Vi Thi Binh... to young people born in 1992 such as Luong Thi Thuong. Even Vi Thi Binh joined the Hong Lech Cang village art troupe from the very beginning even though her child was only a few months old, life was full of difficulties and as she confided, without the support and help of her husband and his family, she could not have been attached to the troupe for over 20 years.
It is worth mentioning that the Hong Lech Cang village art troupe has been operating for so many years without a fixed budget, everything is socialized, such as the whole village contributing money to buy each member a costume and a band, but they still try to maintain the same number of members and spirit and awareness of practice.
However, we still wonder, if there is no love and passion for their ethnic culture, for xoe, for Thai folk songs, how can they maintain the activities of the art troupe under the pressure of life, before the rapid changes of society. Initially, the art troupe of Hong Lech Cang village had six male members, but due to unstable income, all of them withdrew to focus on economic activities to support their families.
And as Vi Thi Dinh shared, in addition to financial difficulties, there are also time difficulties. Hong Lech Cang village has 84 households, but is divided into three clusters, their main work is still going to the fields, going to the forest, working during the day, only having free time in the evening to practice. To maintain the team's routine, everyone must arrange their housework, and must have the family's consent. Vi Thi Dinh, as the team leader, also has to mobilize, explain, and analyze so that everyone in the village clearly understands the responsibility of preserving cultural identity because everyone is busy making money, so who will preserve and spread culture to the community?
Having said that, up to now, the Hong Lech Cang village art troupe only has 10 members. Partly because the young generation all want to work far away, partly because the current members simply think that if one person is missing, they can call another person to replace them and they do not necessarily have to regularly participate in activities with the troupe. Suddenly remembering a specialist working at the Propaganda Department of the Son La Provincial Party Committee told us that every Thai girl is born with xoe with her mother since she was in the womb, we understood why xoe in particular and Thai culture in general have such a strong vitality.
However, to preserve and promote the value of Thai Xoe art, not only Dien Bien but also the Northwestern provinces need the attention of all levels and sectors. The biggest difficulty is still operating costs, so that clubs and art troupes can purchase costumes, equipment, props, and invite artisans to teach, as well as travel costs due to remote locations.
Despite such obstacles, since learning that Yen Bai province had begun to file a dossier to request UNESCO to recognize Thai xoe, Dien Bien province immediately organized training and teaching of traditional and ancient xoe. According to artisan Tong Trung Chien, in addition to documents from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dien Bien province, the documents on xoe that they have are all based on notes and experiences from the elderly. All of these are the premise for future preservation and conservation or to serve the times they go to the grassroots to carry out training and teaching activities.
In addition, as Vice President of the Thai Cultural Club, artisan Tong Trung Chien himself is very happy and proud that the most unique form of community cultural activity of the Thai people was recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity. This means that Thai xoe is not only the property of the Thai people but also of humanity, and this further urges people like him to preserve and promote the value of Thai xoe art.
And that is also the reason why the artist born in 1959 cherished the idea of building a specialized club to preserve Thai Xoe. At the end of December 2022, the Thai Xoe Conservation Club was launched with the support of provincial leaders and especially the support of the Thai ethnic community in the province.
The goal of the Thai Xoe Preservation Club is to organize activities to research, preserve, develop and promote the Thai Xoe art; to teach the younger generation to learn and participate, initially focusing on Dien Bien Phu city, Dien Bien basin and then expanding to districts and subjects of Thai cultural heritage such as establishing clubs in districts to teach this art form to students from primary school and above.
Leaving Hong Lech Cang with great joy and hope for people like artisan Tong Trung Chien, girls like Vi Thi Dinh, Vi Thi Binh... we seemed to see "the xoe circle spinning forever, spinning endlessly" as in the poem "Xoe Festival Night" by author Luong Van To, when: The sound of drums and gongs urged/ Like giving wings to joy to fly high/ The whole "Khuong" Muong suddenly tilted/ With the xoe circle jumping enthusiastically/ The slender legs familiar with the path of the fields/ The flat legs treading the path of the fields/ Intertwined and swaying/ "Kham xeo" draped over the "com" shirt/ Everything shook, the whole forest of flowers swayed/ The wooden mallet chopped on the drum's surface/ Roaring like a storm, like thunder...
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