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The Association of Hong Kong Dance Organizations will present in March its fifth production, "The Trace of Migrators", a dance poem about the journey of Hong Kong people searching for their roots.
The production pulls together every single local dance company and involves hundreds of dancers. Director of choreography Law Yiu-wai, guest choreographers Liu Xingfan (National Class One Choreographer) and Mu Qing (a director of the 2008 Olympic Games), as well as a group of renowned choreographers, have joined hands to create the two-act dance poem.
The first half of the programme portrays village life in Southern China, featuring social customs, folk songs and ballads of the Hakka people. To gain a first-hand glimpse of the Hakka way of life, the choreographers travelled to Fujian province to visit the historic "tulou" – round, earthen buildings in Yongding inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. The show illustrates how Hakka ancestors left their homeland to embark on a long and exhausting journey to find a new home in a strange land for the survival and betterment of their clans.
The second half of the show is set in 1950s and 1960s Hong Kong, with a medley of dances including jazz and modern dance, Chinese dance and ballet. Original works such as a wooden clog dance will bring back the old days of Hong Kong. The scenes also highlight the "Hong Kong spirit", with which migrants built a city through sheer hard work, eagerness to learn, adaptability and enterprising vision. At the same time, they remained true to their ancestral heritage and were eager to contribute and share. In many ways, they proved themselves to be a noble people.
The Association of Hong Kong Dance Organizations is one of the largest dance associations in Hong Kong with 94 group members and over 10,000 individual members. Its objective is to unite dance institutes in Hong Kong and to promote cultural exchange between dancers in Hong Kong and the Mainland. Since its inception, the Association has popularised dance in Hong Kong by giving over 2,000 performances to an audience of over 1 million.
In 1998, the Association, working with over 10 choreographers, produced the dance poem, "Fragrance - A Dance Poem on Hong Kong", involving more than 400 dancers and performed with music composed by the famous late Chinese composer Yip Shun-chi and played by the National Ballet of China Symphony Orchestra. Other well-received dance productions include "Igniting Hearts: Legend of the Orient", "The Golden Silk Road" and "Our Home, Our Story". Last year, the Association also held a fund-raising performance for victims of the earthquake in Sichuan.
Presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Hong Kong Stories: Dance Poem "The Trace of Migrants" by the Association of Hong Kong Dance Organizations will be staged at 8pm on March 7 (Saturday) and at 3pm on March 8 (Sunday) at the Auditorium, Kwai Tsing Theatre. Tickets priced at $140, $110 and $90 are now available at all URBTIX outlets. Half-price concessions will be granted to senior citizens aged 60 or over, people with disabilities, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients. (Limited tickets for CSSA recipients are available on a first-come, first-served basis.) For group booking discount, please refer to the programme leaflet for details.
For programme enquiries, call 2268 7323; for ticketing enquiries and reservations, call 2734 9009. Internet bookings are available at www.urbtix.hk. For credit card telephone bookings, call 2111 5999. Visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/cp for more information on the programme.
Ends/Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Issued at HKT 15:06
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