Le Yen Quyen is the first Vietnamese woman who could perform unicorn dances on poles of 7 metres high. She is also the first female unicorn dancer in the world who can perform “Mai Hoa Thung”, the most dangerous item of the unicorn-lion-dragon dancing art.

High poles for 'Mai Hoa Thung' dance

At the age of 18, Quyen is a 12th grade student of the Luu Huu Phuoc High School in O Mon District, the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho.

Quyen is a small girl but she is a senior taekwondo artist and the first female athlete in Vietnam who set two records related to unicorn dance art: performing unicorn dance on 7-metre poles and performing Mai Hoa Thung on the highest poles.

Quyen joined the Tu Anh Duong unicorn dance troupe in Can Tho city in 2008. The troupe had both male and female members, who are good at taekwondo. However, only male artists performed unicorn dance. Female members were only assigned simple tasks like holding flags or performing dragon dances.

When Quyen, only 40kg in weight, joined the troupe, she was allowed to practice beating drum and performing dragon dance. However, a short time later, seeing male members climbing high poles, Quyen entreated martial art instructor Luong An Duong, the troupe manager, to allow her practicing unicorn dance.

As Quyen is very small, Duong refused but Quyen kept imploring so the instructor agreed. The young girl, with iron will, practiced very hard to be able to climb on high poles as male dancers. Her white skin turned into black after long days practicing under the scorching sun. She also suffered a lot of wounds, caused by falls from high poles.

After four years of hard training, Quyen could climb very fast on wood poles of 4, 5, 6 and 7metres.

Martial art instructor Luong An Duong said that unicorn dance requires patience and passion to conquer new heights. Mai Hoa Thung is one of the most difficult and risky techniques in unicorn dance.

Mai Hoa Thung is the name of a unicorn dance of two dancers on plates of 35cm diameter on 16 iron poles from 1.4 to 2.2m high. This is the most difficult and dangerous unicorn dance item.

Unicorn dancer Le Yen Quyen

In the world, there is no female dancer who can perform the entire Mai Hoa Thung, except for Quyen.

Quyen said she firstly practiced this dance on the ground for one month before trying on iron poles. She felt many times from poles.

The young girl performed Mai Hoa Thung for the first time in October 2008 at the Culture and Sports Centre of O Mon District, Can Tho city. However, she danced on poles of up to 7 metres high.

Quyen’s show highly impressed the audience, especially when they knew that the dancer is a girl.

Tran Thi Thuy Tien, vice chief of Tu Anh Duong unicorn dance troupe, said that Quyen has won many medals and two national records. Her success has encouraged many girls to join the troupe.

Quyen said she wants to become a medical student but she will not give up her passion for unicorn dance.