Dance & pantomime show «Lắng Nghe Điểm Chạm» (The Echoes Of Our Touch)

   Nobody speaks a word on this stage, and the room still follows every thought. Deaf and hard-of-hearing performers tell their own stories through hands, gaze and stillness, then step down to carry the conversation straight to the audience. Saigon does not get evenings like this very often.

   The programme comes in two halves, and every showtime includes both. The first is a contemporary dance piece the company has performed for several seasons — it sold out on each previous run. It plays as a close, private conversation: sharp compressed movement, then pauses wide enough to rest in. The second half is pantomime (kịch câm) in the classic mime tradition, staged by Deaf and hearing artists together — a form that once filled Vietnamese stages and has been quietly slipping off them.

   Behind the production is Cuội Theater, a Deaf-led performing arts group and the first of its kind from Vietnam to appear at KIADA 2026 (Korean International Accessible Dance Festival) in South Korea. It began with seven Deaf artists and now tells stories in sign language on behalf of more than two million Deaf and hard-of-hearing people across the country. The Saigon shows come right before the company flies out.

   The short version:

• — the dance half is performed by Deaf and hard-of-hearing artists — this is the piece that kept selling out;
• — it closes with a direct meeting between performers and audience, with no interpreter in between;
• — the pantomime is played by a mixed cast of Deaf, hard-of-hearing and hearing artists;
• — eight performers share the stage, and each showtime contains both halves in full;
• — the project won «Best Project» at Inspiring Vietnam 2025, and Goethe-Institut is among its partners.

   It is built as a summer gift for children and teenagers, though adults get just as much out of it. Families get a show nobody has to whisper explanations through; regular theatregoers get a physical form that has become rare in Vietnam and a direct encounter with a community rarely represented on stage. The hall is small, which suits the work: it lives in eye contact and tiny gestures that a large auditorium would swallow.

   Both halves are entirely non-verbal, so neither Vietnamese nor English is needed to follow them.

   There are two showtimes, 16:00 and 20:00, with identical programmes; one ticket covers one showtime. Beyond the single ticket there are bundles — three tickets for 1,250,000 VND, five for 2,000,000 VND — and buying at the door on the day costs more than booking ahead. Book tickets.

   For questions about the programme you can also reach Hạnh at 0907 071 286.

   Come and see how much can be said without a single word.