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Renowned choreographer and dancer Victor Ma confined himself to the dance studio for 30 days between July and August. His life was limited to sitting in meditation, dancing and painting, in order to explore physical, spatial and aesthetic possibilities. The round-the-clock "performance" was broadcast live via the Internet and became the first part of his production, "Victor Ma's Dance Exhibition".
After the month-long retreat, Ma will perform in the dance showcase, "Victor Ma's Dance Exhibition II", as an extension of his "reckless" art experiment. The performance is not just an autobiography in dance form. While there are fleeting moments recaptured from the artist's past - childhood memories, his dance training, creative breakthroughs, and life experiences that have led him to evolve from dancer to artistic director of a dance company - there are also purely incidental passages, improvisatory dances that express his aesthetic and reflective pursuits, his rediscovery of body and space, and his ultimate concerns about life and death. Each show is truly a unique experience, with improvisations inspired by the moment, when mind and body blend. It is also a testimony to the artist's sophisticated actualisation of his own style: fantasy-like, difficult, unpredictable. There will be different guest artists to conduct a dance dialogue with Ma at every show.
Victor Ma began his dance training in 1982. He became one of the first graduates of the school of dance at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA). Upon graduation, he joined the Hong Kong Ballet as a full-time dancer. He received the Asian Cultural Council Lee Hysan Foundation Fellowship to do research on dance and theatre in the US and later received the HKADC-University of Leeds-Chevening Scholarship to do his MA in Performance Studies in the UK.
Ma has choreographed more than 60 dance works for local and overseas dance and theatre companies, such as "None of Your Business", "Not a Double Room", "Invisible Contact" and "My Life as a Dance - the evolution". With the film "The Map of Sex and Love", he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards in 2001. In 1995 he established dance company Y-Space with Mandy Yim. Ma is now the Artistic Director of Y-Space.
One of the programmes in the "Solo Show Series" presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, "Victor Ma's Dance Exhibition II" will be held at 8pm, October 23 and 24 (Friday and Saturday) and 3pm, October 25 (Sunday) at the Black Box Theatre, Kwai Tsing Theatre. A meet-the-artist session will be held after the first performance on October 23.
Tickets priced at $180 are now available at URBTIX outlets. Senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients may have 50% off (limited quotas for CSSA recipients on a first-come, first-served basis). A maximum discount of 20% is offered for group booking and the "Solo Show Series" scheme. Please refer to the programme leaflet for details.
Other attractions in the "Solo Show Series" include "Diary VI.Applause..." by Mui Cheuk Yin (November 6-8) and "Dance Moves, Kung Fu and Tofu" by Ong Yong Lock (January 8-10, 2010).
For enquiries about the programme, call 2268 7321 or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/cp. Ticketing enquiries and reservations can be made on 2734 9009 and credit card telephone bookings on 2111 5999. Tickets can also be booked online at www.urbtix.hk.
Ends/Friday, September 25, 2009
Issued at HKT 14:38
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