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On the coming Christmas days, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department will present an attractive dance programme to be performed by the State Dance Company Lezginka which portrays a colorful picture of traditional life in Daghestan.

The State Dance Company Lezginka was born in 1958 in Daghestan, a land of snowcapped mountains and towering cliffs in the Caucasus ranges. For the past twenty years the Company is led by Yosif Matayev, People's Artist of Daghestan and Russia and winner of the prestigious Tsadasa Prize, and Zulumkhan Khangereev, People's Artist of Daghestan and Recipient of the State Prize of Daghestan.

Lezginka's choreography is based on the careful study of more than one hundred local dances, songs and folklore. Lezginka dances for men are accompanied by drums, based on themes of past heroic deeds, courage and skills with weapons. On the soft side there are dances to lyric melodies that extol the beauty and grandeur of the landscape, and the love of the people to their homeland. The music is traditional songs from the past centuries performed on native instruments, with percussion as the principal accompaniment. The magnificently embroidered and jeweled costumes are characteristic of the region, showing the exquisite artistry of the local workers.

The Lezginka has toured around the world, including the United Kingdom, France, Holland, Bulgaria, Poland, Morocco, Spain, the United States, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. In the Hong Kong performance in the coming December, the group will perform a variety of dances such as "Wedding dance", "Dagger dance", "Mountain rhythms", "Shepherds' dance", etc. Audience can once again be thrilled in this return visit since 1993.

Details of each performance are as follows:

December 24(3 pm)       Sha Tin Town Hall
December 25(8 pm)       Tsuen Wan Town Hall
December 26(8 pm)       Yuen Long Theatre

Tickets priced at $100 to $250 are now available at all URBTIX outlets. Half-priced concessions will be granted to senior citizens, people with disabilities and full-time students. For other discount scheme, please refer to programme leaflet.

For programme enquiries, please call 2734 2937; for ticketing enquiries and telephone reservations, please call 2734 9009.

End/Saturday, November 11, 2000

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