Renowned circus groups in the 1950s of the previous century formed the Central Circus Troupe on January 16, 1956, which was the precursor to today’s Vietnam Circus Federation. Following the event, circus artist Ta Duy Hien, together with his big animal circus troupe and fortune, joined the Central Circus Troupe, creating a new standard in the professional skills, scale and diversity of animal and human circus performances.

The new working environment and more special performances inspired contemporary artists to further train themselves for the future development of Vietnamese circus art.

Over the past 10 years, the Vietnamese circus has left a strong impression on domestic and foreign spectators in Asia, Europe and America. In France alone, since 2000, VCF troupes have performed in 42 provinces and cities, serving tens thousands of French and overseas Vietnamese spectators. Their performances have won the praise from public as they reflect the traditional customs and habits of Vietnamese people in a lively way. Every year, the VCF organises approximately 1,000 performances at home and abroad.

The constant and effective development of the VCF was demonstrated through four National Circus Festivals from 1981 to 2002, which provided good opportunities for artists to show their talents and share career experience.

Vietnamese artists earned many prizes of great value and secured their positions and the constant development of the Vietnamese circus through International Circus Festivals held in Russia, Poland, Cuba, France, Germany, China, Mongolia, Hungary, Monaco, Italy and Spain.

The operations of the VCF are increasingly reinforced and developed thanks to the regular recruitment of new artists provided by the Vietnam Circus School. Many circus artists from the VCF have played a key role in local circus troupes in Hanoi, HCM City, Long An and Hai Dzuong.

The VCF has been presented many awards of high distinction by the State in recognition of its tireless efforts to develop circus art imprinted with national identity. Many artists were also conferred notable titles such as People’s Artists and Artists of Merit.

During the past few years, the VCF has not rested on its laurels and has continued to renew performances to better serve spectators near and far.

Notably, impressive performance skills by artists, in combination with sophisticated arranged programmes involving in different forms of art such as drama, dance and music, have created distinctive and surprise circus acts which feature life, society and love. This is considered a common development direction of contemporary circus from around world and the Vietnamese circus sector is determined to integrate into such a trend.