Vietnamese hip-hop dancers will take part in the 11th Indonesia Dance Festival on June 2, when a group of nine dancers and two musicians will perform a unique piece entitled Faces that includes spoken word, traditional Vietnamese music and theatrical elements.

The 65-minute performance, choreographed by international known dancers and choreographers Raphael Hillebrand and sebastien Ramirez will also tour Indonesia this month.

In the performance, beatboxing harmonises with the dan tranh, a traditional 16-string instrument, as the piece illustrates the different faces of Vietnamese youth. All artists wear masks during the performance, sending the message: "Are we covering up our faces in today's society?" Being young in a traditional yet rapidly developing country and coming to terms with non-conventional life choices, the young artists' testimonies are rich and diverse, deep and moving, and sometimes ironic.

Hillebrand lives in Berlin , while Ramirez works both in France and Germany . Both grew up immersed in the hip-hop culture, developing their own artistic language as they went.

Both have realised projects before in Vietnam , as well as in Indonesia and Cambodia .

Faces was created in 2008 as a cultural co-operation project of the Goethe Institute Vietnam and the French cultural centre L'Espace, with the support of Fonds Elysee.-VNA