Lang Toi (My Village)

Lyric Theatre, HK Academy for Performing Arts May 12 and 13, 8pm

In Chinese culture, bamboo stands for strength, grace and longevity. In Vietnam, life pretty much revolves around this plant, as many ordinary objects are made out of bamboo.

Both its practical and symbolic significances are not lost on brothers Nhat Ly Nguyen and Lan Nguyen who, together with juggler Tuan Le Anh, created a show last year that looks at the many roles bamboo plays in people's everyday life in the Vietnamese countryside.

First performed at Paris' Quai Branly Museum, Lang Toi, which means 'my village' in Vietnamese, is a circus act featuring 20 acrobats, singers and musicians who tell of their cultural roots through rituals, daily tasks, traditional games and celebrations.

'In the past, everything was linked to bamboo, from life to death, from the building of a table to beds,' Tuan Le Anh told Le Figaro. 'I wanted to import these symbols.

Nhat Ly Nguyen, who is in charge of the musical composition, says the troupe set out to create a poetic impression of village life - activities in the paddy fields, feasts, games - through a circus language that also borrowed from traditional as well as contemporary dance and theatre.