Sand animation artist promotes friendship through his tours abroad

Dang Tri Duc has establishedhimself as a vanguard of sand art in Vietnam. His charming liveperformances have won over the hearts of audiences at home and abroad.

Dang Tri Duc and his sand painting, featured on the large screen behind him (Photo: nld.com.vn)

As a graduate of the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts University, he firstworked as a puppeteer and later as an illustrator at the Tre (Youth)Publishing House. His life changed in 2008 when he watched a video ofsand animation from the world famous Hungarian sand artist Ferenc Cakoon Youtube. Being interested in the art form, he decided to learn to doit himself.

Duc made his debut as a sand animation artist at the Duyen Dang Viet Nam (Charming Vienam) programme in 2009, impressing the audience and paving his way to conquer this fresh art form.

In 2012, he gained fame nationwide with his illustration for the song ‘Nhat Ky Cua Me” (Mom’sdiary) by composer Nguyen Van Chung, which was performed live on stagewith singer Hien Thuc at a charity musical gala in Ho Chi Minh City.

Also in 2012, Duc was invited to do a sand show as a gift for the UK’sQueen Elizabeth II in celebration of her 60th Diamond Jubilee.Accompanied by a symphony orchestra, Duc recalled the Queen’s 60-yearson throne as well as Her Majesty’s life through sand painting under themelody of “God Save the Queen”. His performance was much appreciated bythe Royal family and the guests.

As the artist recently wrapped up his tour to the US, Thoi Nay (PresentTime) reporter Truong Giang sat down to talk with him about the trip.

Question: The arts scene in the US is quite competitive. What gave you the confidence to perform your sand animation?

Artist Dang Tri Duc: Audiences may havealready watched sand animation clips, but I don’t think clips cancompare to a live performance with a large screen and lively musicinstrumentals. These effects bring an entirely new atmosphere toaudiences.

In this medium, artists use different styles, techniques, compositionsand ways to lead their story that can amaze audiences. From my ten-yearsof making sand paintings, I know exactly what sections of myperformance bring big wows from audiences.

One of the performances you brought to stage was ‘Nhat KyCua Me’ (Mom’s Diary). As your audiences included both Vietnamese andAmericans, did the performance generate different responses among them?

‘Mom’s Diary’ tells a story of a woman from pregnancy, to giving birthto her son, raising him, seeing him growing up and leaving her arms tomake his own way in the world. But above all, he is always a little dearboy in her heart.

Stories about motherhood are always a major topic that can bringnostalgia and longing from anyone who is living far from their homeland.Many Overseas Vietnamese students were moved to tears at my shows; theysaid that the mother featured in my performance reminded them of theirmothers.

For American audiences, although they could not understand the lyricsof the song, they could grasp the main themes through the melodies andimages. I think no matter where mothers come from, they share a commonexperience of having great love for their children.

When my show concluded, many American audiences members came to thestage to shake my hand and compliment my performance. Among the guestswere deans of universities in the US – they invited me to give a shorttraining courses for their students to make sand paintings.

What was your most memorable part of your trip?

I have performed in many countries, but this one made me the most proud.

In San Francisco, in front of the city’s mayor and his guests, when Ifinished my show, the MC was so excited that he wanted to try making asand painting. Right after he drew hearts, I drew two hands shakingtightly below, with one hand marked with the flag of Vietnam and theother the US.

It took me just around a few dozen seconds to draw this, and when Ifinished, everyone in the hall stood up and gave round of applause

Sand animation will not be a fresh experience for audiencesif it stays the same. Have you thought of changing your performances?

There are many trends in renovating sand animation. Many people aretrying to make it more colourful, others are trying to blend it with LEDlight. But I want to follow a simple style with a focus on profoundtopics. I have worked to improve my movements in order to furtherinspire and win over the hearts of audiences.

Thank you so much for the interview.

Sand animation is a modern style of live performance art in which an artist creates a series of images using sand, a process which is achieved by applying sand to a surface and then creating images by drawing lines and figures in the sand with their hands. Sand animation is often supported by an overhead projector or lightbox (similar to ones used by photographers to view translucent film) and is accompanied by music.

Nhan Dan

Sand animation artist promotes friendship through his tours abroad

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