The humble bowl and rustic bamboo chopsticks have created a unique charm in the traditional folk dance of the Tay ethnic minority people in Bac Kan Province. The bowl dance has gradually become an attraction in the northern mountainous province of Bac Kan.
A performance of bowl dance in Bac Kan Province.
From the rice bowl to the rustic bamboo chopsticks, combined with the simulation weaving, the dance tells a story that connects history through the threads of time. No one knows exactly when the bowl dance originated, but it has been closely associated with the Tay people of Bac Kan, to this day.
Where Tay people live, bowl dance exists
The bowl dance has existed for generations but it has remained somewhat unfamiliar. From the south to the north, on a journey through the countryside, you might think of the traditional Don ca tai tu (the traditional musical art form of the south) in the southern orchards, Bai choi (a popular folklore style of singing in the central and south central regions of Vietnam) in Hoi An, or Ca Hue royal court music on the Huong (Perfume) River in Hue City. Moving closer to the north, there are Cheo (traditional opera), and Quan ho (Love duet singing) in Bac Ninh and Bac Giang Provinces. Even closer, you find Then singing, and the Sli and Luon songs of the Tay people in the northern mountainous regions. Amidst these numerous intangible cultural heritages already recognised, tourists are often surprised when they witness the bowl dance, a once-forgotten dance that has now been revived.
Dao Thi Mai is a petite and lively young woman currently the Secretary of the Con Poong Village Youth Union in Nam Cuong Commune, Cho Don District. In this region, not far from Ba Be Lake, Mai stands out like a forest flower, showcasing her passion for the traditional bowl dance. Since she was young, Mai has followed her grandmothers and elders to learn and perform the bowl dance. She insisted on learning and practised tirelessly until she mastered it without realising it.
She has choreographed, directed, and performed the dance with over 50 participants at the Nam Cuong Spring Festival in 2024. Mai also taught, choreographed, and staged a performance with 200 participants at the Cho Don Safe Zone (ATK) Spring Festival. Furthermore, Mai was among the 1,000 people who participated in the largest-ever dance performance with bowls during the opening ceremony of the Bac Kan Province Culture and Tourism Week 2024.
A special summer class was held at Hoang Van Thu Secondary School, in Bang Lung Town, Cho Don District. This school is considered to receive the best secondary education quality in Bac Kan Province. However, the lesson wasn’t Math, Literature, or English, but the bowl dance.
Many movements in various postures convey deep meanings of sharing, passing on, and entrusting. Perhaps this is why teaching the bowl dance also means imparting yet-to-be-discovered cultural values. The traditional dance requires 6 to 12 performers who dance and sing simultaneously, with only a few specific movements. To participate in the dance, performers must know how to sing. Cultural workers in Bac Kan and local artisans have creatively developed additional movements that mimic daily activities, such as rice sieving, pounding, and harvesting. The increasing number of performers and additional musical accompaniment have made the dance significantly more captivating. With continuous creativity and enhancement, the bowl dance has been revived. Where Tay people live, the bowl dance exists.
Director of the Ba Be Tourism Area Management Board Hoang Ngoc Pham is excited to report that there are now 12 public performance teams in the Ba Be Lake area to entertain visitors. Among these, the bowl dance is one of the folk dances tourists love and enthusiastically participate in.
Pride in the unique dance
Compared to Then singing, Sli and Luon singing, popular across many northern mountainous provinces, the bowl dance has not only endured but has also rapidly flourished in a short time. During the 2024 spring festival season, almost all spring festivals in the districts of Bac Kan Province featured performances of bowl dance, with numbers of participants ranging from 50 to 200 people. The performance involving 1,000 participants at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Bac Kan Provincial Culture and Tourism Week was the largest folk dance in Bac Kan ever. Due to its unique charm, cultural and tourism officials in Bac Kan hope that the dance can gain fame and become a distinctive cultural product tied to tourism. According to Deputy Director of the Provincial Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism Hoang Thi Dung, the bowl dance has been recognised as a national intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.
Director of Bac Kan Culture and Tourism Promotion Centre Lam Ngoc Du said that the dance training classes have been organised in various districts and cities. Each class has about 30 participants. The trainees are taught and guided through 28 basic dance moves. These training classes aim to become the nucleus for spreading bowl dance throughout the community. Beyond the goal of preservation, the bowl dance is expected to become a "cultural identity" for the Tay people and a symbol of Bac Kan, aligned to make tourism a key economic sector. Director Lam Ngọc Du emphasised: "We must ensure that this intangible cultural heritage 'lives' within the community, and that the artisans and local people can make a living through income from their performance”.
After finishing her farm work, taking a quick bath, and hastily eating her evening meal, Dong Thi Hoa, dressed up in front of the mirror, adjusting her traditional Tay attire. Like every evening, Hoa's cultural performance team would perform Then singing and bowl dance at various homestays around Ba Be Lake. These performances have brought additional income for Hoa and her friends in the village.
As twilight falls over Ba Be Lake, before the dinner of OCOP specialties and the famous Bang Phuc herbal wine, tourists at the homestay eagerly await the bowl dance performance by the village girls. The stage is small, so the performance involves only eight people but it is enough to surprise the visitors. Dong Van Hoan, the homestay owner, said that in the past, the villagers usually performed Then singing with the tinh flute (a traditional stringed instrument) for the tourists. However, recently, alongside Then singing, the bowl dance has been added to the performances. Then singing is performed in many places, but bowl dance is unique to Bac Kan, so tourists find it fascinating.
Many visitors to Bac Kan have requested hotels and homestays to organise bowl dance performances. This is a positive sign for both tourism and the bowl dance heritage itself. According to Pham Duy Hung, Vice Chairman of Bac Kan Provincial People's Committee, following the initial successes, the province will continue to direct and invest in the further development of bowl dance in the coming time.
Tuan Son, Nong Vui - Translated by NDO