News Release

Note: For artist bios, photos and interview
contact information, see end of release.

Vietnamese dance company to perform
reflection on country's war-torn history

CHAPEL HILL - Carolina Performing Arts will present the U.S. premiere of "Drought and Rain Vol. 2," a contemporary dance reflection on the Vietnam War, on Nov. 16 and 17 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Company Ea Sola will perform the piece at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16 and at 8 p.m. Nov. 17 in Memorial Hall's Beasley-Curtis Auditorium. The work is performed by 12 dancers from the National Ballet of Vietnam, with one composer, five traditional Vietnamese musicians playing contemporary music, a digital light display and video images.

The dates are the only U.S. performances by Company Ea Sola scheduled this year. "Drought and Rain Vol. 2" has premiered in Germany, Singapore and Vietnam.

Grounded in the traditional culture, music, dance and history of Vietnam, "Drought and Rain Vol. 2" presents the war as seen through the eyes of the country's next generation.

"In this choreography, I took up the theme of the memory of war and considered it from the viewpoint of Vietnam," said Ea Sola (pronounced "(EH-ah SO-la"), a Vietnam native who fled to Paris during the war. "It was a reflection on the world powers that have excluded and occulted millions of individuals. This choreography put the anonymous in the foreground."

Sola returned to Vietnam in 1989 and researched the country's culture for five years. Her impressions from that research eventually became the first "Drought and Rain," her 1995 piece that featured women farm workers onstage in the place of professional dancers.

She has been honored for her achievements in Canada, France and Vietnam. The German magazine Ballettanz International nominated her as artist of the year in 2001.

Emil Kang, Carolina's executive director for the arts, said that "Drought and Rain Vol. 2" speaks to global issues of war, memory and generational shift that apply to cultures and people around the world.

"These are important issues that transcend cultural barriers," he said. "I am delighted that UNC graduate student Rivka Eisner, who wrote an essay about the performance for our Web site, had a chance to see that played out in this work in Vietnam last summer and to interview Ea Sola."

Eisner visited the country to conduct research for her doctorate in communication studies. Her essay on Sola, her dance troupe and the politics behind it is posted at www.carolinaperformingarts.org. Eisner describes the rhythmic motion of the dancers and the impact their contemporary styles have on the traditional culture of Vietnam:

"For Ea Sola, the dance's beckoning to attention is particularly oriented toward younger generations throughout the world," she writes. "When (you speak) with her, Ea Sola states clearly that this dance is not bound to the specific memories, contexts of violence, or the experience of modern life in Vietnam …. This dance is moreover dedicated to the world's youth, those who are inheriting complex humanitarian and environmental responsibilities in an increasingly globalized political landscape."

Tickets for "Drought and Rain Vol. 2," $24-$50, are available online at www.carolinaperformingarts.org, by calling (919) 843-3333 or from the Memorial Hall Box Office on Cameron Avenue, open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Tickets for Carolina students are $10. Tickets also are on sale for other performances.

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Note: To interview Rivka Eisner, call Don Smith at (919) 843-3119. For Company Ea Sola's media kit and downloadable photos, visit www.carolinaperformingarts.org/media.

Carolina Performing Arts contacts: Don Smith, (919) 843-3119, donsmith@email.unc.edu or Jennifer Warner, (919) 966-3834, jenniferwarner@unc.edu