POWER PLAY

A natural lake on the western outskirts of Hanoi is now the stage for large-scale cultural spectacle The Quintessence of Tonkin. Running six nights a week, the ambitious showcase required installing a hydrothermal system to raise a 15-ton replica of the Thuy Dinh, a historic structure at nearby Cua Thay temple, from under the water in less than a minute. Here, 100 students from the Hanoi College of Dance are joined by 150 real-life farmers who spent more than a year learning to perform. Together they enact a series of tales about countryside life, with nods to folk arts like water puppetry and scenes on the rise of Vietnamese Buddhism, linked to the aforementioned temple ( thequintessenceoftonkin.com).