Reviewed: September 22

The Hong Kong Dance Company has repackaged seven pieces by four locally based female choreographers - Mui Cheuk-yin, Cherry Lai Man-wai, Yu Pik-yim and Sheng Peiqi - and presented them in this scrumptious, nine-course visual feast.

Put together by Mui and Yuri Ng Yue-lit (the production's visual director), Dream Dances sets out to reinterpret the role of props in Chinese dance. The 80-minute performance, made up of nine scenes, is also a poetic journey through colour, Chinese operatic aesthetics and the four seasons.

Mui set the contemporary tone of the show with her opening piece, Drapery, in which seven female dancers scuttled silently across the dimly lit stage behind a transparent screen. This solemn mood was only slightly lifted when Xie Yin danced dreamily in a solo under a chiffon veil. Long Sleeves (above), choreographed by Mui and Sheng, was by far the most technically challenging. In the deft hands of the dancers, these Chinese operatic long sleeves morphed into symbolic wings, running streams and ropes.

The show reached its climax in Mui's Paper Umbrella, when the stage was first covered by a shower of white confetti and then a large sheet of white silk. The visual effects were breathtaking.

Eye candy it may be, but Dream Dances shows off the dance company's full potential.