Forum users of Vietnamese descent, please help:
My colleague wants to her class to perform a Vietnamese Hat Dance during the school graduation ceremony in September. She has watched some videos on youtube and provided me with some information (I am coordinating the performances at the ceremony), so I would really appreciate it if forum users can help with some clarifications and queries:
(1) My colleague says that the song she has chosen for the dance is "Thương Quá Việt Nam". What does the title and the song mean? Can I buy it in mp3 format from an online music store? Or can anyone share it (via email) from their personal collection?
(2) We are in Malaysia and it's not really easy to get the hats themselves. We have tried asking another colleague who has many friends in the airline industry to help us, but she says the stopover in Vietnam is too short, so flight crews fly back to Malaysia as soon as the refueling/cleaning/loading is done. They don't leave the airport at all. Do you think that it is possible to have friends in Vietnam buy the hats and ship them over here? How much might that cost? Or should we just make the hats with stiff cardboard? I'm trying not to go with the "DIY" option as I think it would be really tacky.
(3) Then there's the question of the costume. Modified aodai (with buttons down the front instead of on one side) used to be quite popular in Malaysia a few years ago, but I don't see much of it in stores now. But I also saw a Vietnamese hat dance video in which the dancers were not wearing the long aodai with white pants but shorter normal-length blouses with black pants. Should we go the latter route?
(4) Is there anything that the dancers can wear on their heads? Or at least, any ideas for the girls to style their hair (i.e. what is a suitable hairstyle? Braids? Ponytail? Flowers? etc?)
Many thanks in advance for your help and suggestions. It is much appreciated.
HYS