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The award-winning dancer Yang Liping, who is also known as the Peacock Princess and the Goddess of Dance on the Mainland, will stage the dance-drama "The Peacock" in April. It will be her farewell bow in stage production. The Oscar-winning Tim Yip is the production's scenographer, costume designer and stylist.
"The Peacock" is divided into four chapters - Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. The drama tells of maturation, human nature, life and love as well as the interplay and fusion between life and cosmic forces. Each character represents different facets of human nature, including light and enlightenment, dedication and sacrifice, fear and greed. Human weaknesses are revealed in complex and painful entanglements. The characters eventually find the answer to the rotation of the seasons in dedication and love. It is a story about a peacock but also an allegory for humanity, with Yang Liping performing the solo dance, "Spirit of the Peacock".
Yang Liping is a native of Yunnan and a member of the Bai ethnic group. Her career took off in 1979 when she was acclaimed for her lead performance in the ethnic dance drama, "Peacock Princess", which won a Class One Award for Performance in Yunnan. She later choreographed and performed "Spirit of the Peacock", which brought her to prominence in 1986 with a Class One Award for Originality and First Prize in Performance at the 2nd All China Dance Competition. She performed at the closing ceremony of the 11th Asian Games in Beijing in 1990. In 1994, "Spirit of the Peacock" won the Gold Award in the Dance Classics of the 20th Century. Yang's trilogy - "Dynamic Yunnan - In Search of Shangri-la", "Echoes of Shangri-la" and "Tibetan Myth", has since garnered phenomenal success on the Mainland and worldwide. She has performed as a solo dancer in many countries including Singapore, the Philippines, the United States, Canada and Japan. She was also the first dancer from the Mainland to visit Taiwan for artistic exchange.
Tim Yip is the production's art director, scenographer, costume designer and stylist. He won an Oscar for Best Art Direction and a British Academy Film Award for Best Costume Designer for his work in "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" in 2001, which also made him the first Chinese ever to win these awards. Since working on his first film, "A Better Tomorrow", directed by John Woo in 1986, Yip has collaborated with many film directors of international acclaim including Ang Lee, Tsai Ming-liang, Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaogang. Yip has also worked with many renowned Taiwan arts groups such as the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, Contemporary Legend Theatre and Tai Gu Tales Dance Theatre. His works have been performed at the Palace Museum in Beijing, the Palais de Chaillot in Paris and the Opernhaus Graz in Austria. His striking costume design and art direction for the films "Red Cliff" and "The Banquet", and the television drama "When Oranges Are Ripe", also won international attention and approval for their humanism and innovative appeal.
Presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), "The Peacock", a dance drama of Yang Liping, will be staged at 8.15pm on April 19 and 20 (Saturday and Sunday) and at 3pm on April 21 (Monday) at the Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Tickets priced at $480, $380, $260 and $160 are now available at URBTIX outlets, on the Internet and by credit card telephone booking. Half-price tickets are available for senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities and their minders, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients (limited tickets for full-time stduents and CSSA recipients are available on a first-come, first-served basis). A maximum of 20 per cent discount is offered for group booking package, please refer to programme leaflets for details.
For programme enquiries, please call 2268 7323 or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/dance/program_461.html . For ticketing enquiries, please call 2734 9009. For credit card telephone bookings, please call 2111 5999. For Internet bookings, please visit www.urbtix.hk .
Ends/Saturday, February 22, 2014
Issued at HKT 10:00
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