The meetup Vietnamese peeps are helping this year with the International Culture Festival, it promises to be an extravaganza of culture and color. They may still need volunteers to help out, but if you can only stop by for a moment, you should do so!
Sunday June 17
Midtown New York City
6th Ave between 42nd to 56th Streets
11am-6pm
The last time Long and his wife Lan were in town we happened to be standing outside the DTW when they came out following their show. We invited them down to our apartment for dinner, they invited us back to theirs several nights later. This time they were only in town for a couple days but we managed to get together some peeps on a lazy Sunday night to have dinner with them. Hong and I made some soy vo, bi cuon, thit ga roti, thit kho and nom. It's interesting to be in a room of Vietnamese from both the south and the north; I've always cooked whatever my mom taught me to make but as it turns out it's quite an eclectic mixture of southern and northern varities of food. A little slideshow here.
Long's choreography of a troupe of young deaf and hearing impaired Vietnamese was absolutely inspiring. He started this dance troupe, Together Higher, about 4 years ago in an effort to access and tell their stories. In the process he and his wife Lan have learned sign language and the joy of teaching these kids about another language - that of the body. The opening night performance of "Stories of Us" at the Dance Theater Workshop was last night followed by a hilarious Q&A session of trying to understand sign language, Vietnamese and English all at the same time. The show runs until this Saturday, March 16. It's definitely worth checking out.
For those of you who remember the last time Long's company was in town... you will remember several meals with them and all the girls sighing over Long. Well he's back! He returns to the Dance Theater Workshop to debut his company Together Higher in March.
