Tag: dance

Project 4th June, a 24-hour Online Dance Commemoration of Tiananmen

Singaporean artist Ming Poon, aka Ming Apur, likes as he puts it to use choreography as a “tool to interrogate, disrupt and re-organise the social and political relationality of the body in time and space.”

Poon’s latest work is Project June 4th a 24-hour online commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests that looks to use dance to speak out against state censorship of peaceful dissent, criticism and the erasure and rewriting of history. For as Poon says “Once we forget, history repeats itself and the oppressors become emboldened”.

On 4 June 1989 the peaceful mass student protests in Tiananmen Square were ended by military force. Although more than 30 years have passed, the Chinese government still suppresses any mention or acknowledgement of the incident.

tankman 1989

On 5 June a single man stood against a column of tanks… Project 4th June commemorates those who were murdered, the movement and choreography of Tank Man represents as Poon puts it “the potential that lies within ordinary persons to stop the machines of violence and oppression. It is also a call-out to stand up against injustice, no matter how small we think we are and how insurmountable we think the task is.”

6 dancers will take turns performing Tank Man throughout the 24-hour commemoration. Each will attempt to interpret the choreography in a way that expresses their individual thoughts and relationship to the Tiananmen Square incident, state censorship and the fight for human rights and democracy.

The 6 dancers are:
1. Pink Tank: “Watch out, the world is not behind you.”
2. Tank Ghost: “Of Ghosts and Shells”
3. Tank Zheng: “No Tank On Rainbow”
4. Tank Sexy: “The Days Without Cigarettes / 沒有煙抽的日子“
5. Tank Plant: “Planting the Reality”
6. Tank Critique Critique: “Which Tanks Do You Need To Stand In Front Of?”

If you want to watch, join or participate (see the video above for the choreography) in the commemoration Poon has an event etiquette to help make it safe for everyone. Keep your identity, as well as others’ anonymous!

  • If you turn on your camera during the commemoration, put on a mask before doing so. Also, make sure that your background does not reveal any personal information, ideally sit with a blank wall as your background.
  • Microphones will be turned OFF by default throughout the commemoration, to avoid voice detection.
  • Before entering the commemoration room, replace your display name with an alias. Your alias should be written in the following manner: Tank ___ (e.g., Tank Person, Tank ABC, Tank 123, etc,). Do not include any personal information in it.

Project June 4th
Date: 4 June, 2022 (
Venue: live stream on Zoom and Youtube
Tickets: Free
More info: www.mingapur.com
live stream on Zoom and Youtube

Amadeus (a cyberpunk dream)

Amadeus (a cyberpunk dream) is a short film, available on youtube, created by the Hong Kong Ballet and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra which depicts Mozart’s journey from the classical era to a psychedelic urbanscape in frenetic Hong Kong. 

Director and production designer Ahong Cheung combines Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik performed by the HK Phil and choreography from HKB’s Artistic Director Septime Webre to transform the streets of Hong Kong into a vibrant Blade Runner style cyber-verse.

https://youtu.be/h9M4zUmHNwo

A disoriented Mozart finds himself in retro-futuristic SoHo pursued by ominous authority figures. While cyber-goth gangsters, mahjong players, street musicians, construction workers, and pedestrians mill about on the bustling streets.

images: hk ballet

India by the Bay – Postponed

Due to the coronavirus India by the Bay sixth edition (14-19 February, 2020) has been postponed until April.

The Festival offers HongKongers an insight into Indian culture and history through a diverse and eclectic programme including music, dance, film, food, theatre, yoga, literature and art.

India by the Bay 2020
Date: April, 2020
Venue: Asia Society Hong Kong Center
Tickets: tbc

Dragjam2 – Just because it’s Love @ Bulle d’Art – 16 February, 2019

An alternate celebration of love DragJam2 – Just because it’s Love looked to remind a packed audience that love is supposed to make you happy.

Showcasing the talents or not of Stephaine Slackhouse, Muschi, Pan Sze, Lucy Lucy, Circle K, Llama del Rey, Angilicious and organiser Gabor Zsoka there was stand-up comedy, dance, dating games and of course a big black dildo for a lucky raffle winner.

A fun relaxed night. Gabor hopes to run different themed Dragjams every couple of months to raise awareness of drag, offer a platform for those who want to explore drag and amid the fun to inject a bit of seriousness about social issues.
Click here or on any photo for the full gallery of video and stills.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Drag-Jam-16-February-2019/n-4g8DTD/i-HwwpMzP

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Drag-Jam-16-February-2019/n-4g8DTD/i-6cmQ8JX

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Drag-Jam-16-February-2019/n-4g8DTD/i-vQK3Qrh

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Drag-Jam-16-February-2019/n-4g8DTD/i-xSZ22Zr

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Drag-Jam-16-February-2019/n-4g8DTD/i-7ppCGRj

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Drag-Jam-16-February-2019/n-4g8DTD/i-pNStzKs

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Drag-Jam-16-February-2019/n-4g8DTD/i-bF5WWpJ

29th Macau Arts Festival

The theme of the 29th Macao Arts Festival, which runs from 27 April to 31 May, is “Origin” as the festival’s programme looks to broaden audiences’ thinking about life as well as have them recall and ponder on the core meaning of life.

Das Kapital by the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre opens the festival. A new version of Karl Marx’s grand classic – created in celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth – it incorporates elements of Macau’s and looks to illustrate the duality of capital through black humour. The festival closing production is Cloud Gate 2‘s 13 Tongues, a dance, music and folklore show.

Organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau  this year’s festival features 26 programmes grouped across 7 categories: Thematic Highlights: Origin; Groundbreakers: Connection; Cross-Disciplinary Creations: Theatre; Family Entertainment; Quintessence of Tradition; Melodious Music and Exhibitions. Plus an outreach programme aimed at promoting arts in the community.

Japanese playwright Tadashi Suzuki presents his adaptation of The Trojan Women which showcases the misery and desolation of the post-war period; while renowned Korean theatre group Sadari Movement Laboratory renders its adaptation of Kafka’s classical work The Trial to explore the definition of crime with unique body movements and language. Emerging Filipino choreographer Eisa Jocson, who has been performing in Europe, presents a work that examines the feminine body and gender politics; while Subject to_change from the United Kingdom introduces its highly-acclaimed work Home Sweet Home, allowing participants to build their cardboard houses and form a community.

Local Macanese artists join hands with European and Asian artists in the performances in the “Groundbreakers: Connection” category. Dirks Theatre Arts Association, in collaboration with an Irish director and its international actors team, presents their adaptation of The Night just before the Forest by famed French playwright Bernard-Marie Koltès. The play Sunset at the Shipyards by Dream Theatre Association tells the history of the local shipbuilding industry while Migration is documentary theatre from the Macau Experimental Theatre that features Indonesian migrant workers.

Tickets for the 29th Macau Arts Festival are onsale now from Macau Ticket, unfortunately there are no ferry packages available to reduce the cost of attending. Full details of the programme are in the event diary and you can find out more from the festival website www.icm.gov.mo/fam/29/en/

I, Wu Song – A One-man Chinese Opera

Chinese opera has often been seen as an art form that tells historical tales, and that of Wu Song’s is one of the classics. Yet in this new production by The Gong Strikes One, Wu is no longer the protagonist, nor does Chinese opera take up the task to tell his story.

Instead, Wu’s story is transformed into a medium for Chinese opera to explore itself as a theatrical form of body movements and musical gestures. All utterances have been removed and Wu now becomes no more than an anonymous man on stage, called “I”.

I, Wu Song – A One-man Chinese Opera
The Gong Strikes One
Date: 8pm, 10-11 June, 2017
Venue: HK Cultural Centre, Studio Theatre
Tickets: $180, $160 from Urbtix

India by the Bay Opening Reception @ India House – 24 February, 2016

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/India-by-the-Bay-Opening/i-j2ntGpS/A

India by the Bay 2016 opening reception hosted by the Indian Consul General Prashant Agrawal at India House. This year’s festival curated by Sanjoy Roy includes Sharmila Tagore, Shobha De and Rajasthan Josh… for a full schedule of events see here
Click on any photo to see the full gallery of images

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/India-by-the-Bay-Opening/i-9qLDzhv

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/India-by-the-Bay-Opening/i-rJpPZGz

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/India-by-the-Bay-Opening/i-q76dSc6

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/India-by-the-Bay-Opening/i-kskkpp5

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/India-by-the-Bay-Opening/i-BPwFqfc

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/India-by-the-Bay-Opening/i-msHJBqt

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/India-by-the-Bay-Opening/i-zxPNmX2

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/India-by-the-Bay-Opening/i-r5Wv3CW

Eureka

Eureka - CCDC

Three Eureka Moments in One Show!
Now in their thirties, Victor Fung, Lai Tak-wai and Bruce Wong demonstrate their ideas in a series of new works. Three completely different choreographers share their eureka moment in diverse styles of contemporary dance.

If These Walls Could Talk
Identity X Relationship
Music starts. He and she fall in love at first sight.
They are a perfect match, but in a blink of the eye, someone else stands next to him.
Together, apart, death, rebirth.
Battles of the sexes, a glimpse into the complicated and ambiguous relationships between men and women – love turns to hate turns to love again and identities and feelings are bombarded over and over.

Choreography
Victor Fung: graduated from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) and The University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). He furthered his studies in choreography and completed his postgraduate studies at London Contemporary Dance School. He is currently conducting doctoral research with funding from Middlesex University and Dance4. In 2011, he established Victor Fung Dance, a platform through which his collaborative works with international dance artists are presented. He received the“Award for Young Artist” at the 2013 Hong Kong Arts Development Awards in recognition of his artistic achievement in dance. Recent performance credits include the Hollywood production 47 Ronin starring Keanu Reeves and Aida at Royal Albert Hall, his choreography for CCDC includes Fighter in Strip Teaser 2012.

Overwhelming
Humanity X Turbulence
Listen to your body through dance. Walk to the chaotic edge of the maze in your heart. Dancers reshape the form of ideas and inspirations, unveiling the humanity lurking under appearance. When we are going through pains and changes in the mist, should we follow the main road or find our own track?

Choreography
Lai Tak-wai: graduated from HKAPA majoring in modern dance. In 2002, he was awarded the Hong Kong Jockey Club Dance Fund Scholarship to further his studies at the National Conservatoire of Music and Dance in Paris. He then joined the Junior Ballet Contemporain in Paris for the 2002/03 season. Lai was a full-time dancer at Cloud Gate Dance Theatre in 2005 and was at CCDC from 2008 to 2014. At the 2013 Hong Kong Dance Awards he received the “Outstanding Performance by a Male Dancer” award for his performance in In Search of the Grand View Garden. He is currently an independent choreographer and freelance dancer. His choreography includes Sleepless, Substitute and Timeline in It’s My Turn.

How to Become…
Kung Fu X Id
Practice is the pursuit of enlightenment – comprehension, realisation and full understanding. Martial arts and dance are pursuits of physical and mental advancement. In a cross-over between kung-fu and dance, Bruce Wong shares his pursuit of the inner-self with the audience. Wong has won champions in the martial arts champion Baguazhang and Neijia Quan at the Hong Kong Open Wushu Championships. This is his search to find a way to cleanse one’s soul.

Choreography
Bruce Wong: CCDC dancer Bruce Wong entered HKAPA in 1995, where he was awarded several scholarships and was chosen to represent the Academy on overseas tours during his studies. In 1998, he was awarded an Asian Cultural Council Fellowship to participate in the American Dance Festival in the US. He received the Hong Kong Jockey Club Dance Fund Scholarship to attend Hollins University in the US for a Master’s degree. In 2010, he was one of the few dance finalists worldwide to be selected for the prestigious Rolex Mentor & Protege Arts Initiative. His recent choreography includes The Legend and The Hero, Dress Me Down in Strip Teaser 2012 and Re/dis-connect in It’s My Turn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3Vtj-RADws

Eureka
City Contemporary Dance Company
When: 18-20 September, 2015
Where: HK Cultural Centre, Studio Theatre
Tickets: $220, $160 from Urbtix
More info:
18-19 September – 8pm
19-20 September – 3pm