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After "Latin Passion", "Mediterranean" and "Silk Road", the biennial World Cultures Festival is celebrating its fourth edition in 2011 with the theme of "Enchanting Arts of Asia". Organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), the festival, running from October 20 to November 20, will feature an array of diversified performing arts programmes from the Asian region, showcasing multi-faceted traditions and perspectives.
A leaflet on the festival line-up is now available at the LCSD's performing arts venues.
Opening the festival is the world-renowned National Ballet of China, which will present three diverse repertoires on three successive evenings. The first night's "Ballet Gala" will feature excerpts from timeless masterpieces by Chinese and Western choreographers to showcase the company's half century of amazing achievements. The second night's "The Red Detachment of Women" will provide an invaluable opportunity to enjoy the most popular Chinese revolutionary model ballet from the 1960s. The third night will feature the all-time favourite "Swan Lake", blending immaculate ballet technique with the uniquely Chinese essence that has helped to launch the company into the international spotlight.
The festival will close with the all-female and Plum Blossom Award-winning Red Mansion Troupe of the Shanghai Yueju Opera House, presenting a diverse line-up of classic productions, new works appearing in Hong Kong for the first time, and excerpts from outstanding Yue operas.
Another wonderful closing programme will be the award-winning British Bangladeshi dance master Akram Khan's "DESH". The new full-length contemporary dance solo performance returns to his family's cultural roots, weaving threads of memory, experience and myth into a surreal world of surprising connections to create an intimate yet epic stage production.
The festival will also feature:
* Legend Lin Dance Theatre of Taiwan in "Song of Pensive Beholding"
* Chae Hyang Soon Dance Company (Korea) in "Splendour of Korea"
* Hong Kong Dance Company's "Two Swallows - Ode to Wu Guanzhong"
* "Eitetsu Hayashi: Taiko Legend" (Japan)
* The concert "The Manganiyar Seduction" (India)
* Gong Tri Pitaka (Indonesia) in "Iridescent Balinese Gamelan and Dance"
* The concert "Celestial Songs"
* Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra's "Commemorating the Centennial of the 1911 Revolution: The World Is for All"
* Thang Long Water Puppet Troupe's water puppetry (Vietnam)
* The Princess' Black Box's "Our Best of Youth in Cambrian"
* Hong Kong Repertory Theatre's "Shed Skin"
Apart from performances, the festival will also offer a series of extension activities including exhibitions, a masterclass, workshops, lecture demonstrations, talks, meet-the-artist sessions, foyer performances and outdoor entertainment.
Detailed programme brochures will be available from August 12. Counter bookings will start on the same day. For more details, please visit the website www.worldfestival.gov.hk.
For programme enquiries, call 2370 1044.
Ends/Friday, July 29, 2011
Issued at HKT 16:42
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