Greek classic continues to inspire Neo Dance HK

DANCER-CHOREOGRAPHER Justyne Li Sze-yeung has always been interested in mythical tales. She created Narcissus & Echo for the Hong Kong Dance Alliance's Emerging Choreographers Series in 2007, then Galatea and Galatea & Pygmalion three years later. Her exploration into the Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea continues in her latest piece Galatea X.

The work is based on the story of sculptor Pygmalion who falls in love with a beautiful ivory statue of Galatea that he created. The object of his desire eventually comes to life when Aphrodite, the goddess of love, answers his prayers.

Li explains the Galatea series stems from her curiosity over how a statue would move if it was to come to life: "It must be so different from a human." She adds that her first take on the tale has a dark twist, that the statue never came to life and Galatea is just a figment of a deluded man's imagination.

Her next attempt Galatea & Pygmalion, a short piece she created for a group show and backed with music by Philip Glass, looked at the idea of mortality and immortality as the sculptor ages and dies while the statue lives on. Inspiration from the myth hasn't dried up yet - and probably won't anytime soon - as Li has now come up with a third interpretation. Instead of focusing on specific ideas and the narrative as they did in the first two, Li and her husband, co-choreographer and dancer, Wong Tan-ki will walk the audience through their creative process in the performance.

In Galatea X, more attention is paid to how movement changes and morphs into dance. Having come up with many ideas - and given up on just as many - their final work is a meticulously choreographed piece that reflects the couple's progress and growth since they first started working together when they set up Neo Dance HK in 2006.

"We want to look at the perceived role and relationship between 'the creator' and 'the created'," says Li. "The way choreographers build a dance piece movement by movement is very much like a sculptor crafting a statue bit by bit.

"It may seem that the sculptor is the creator who created the statue. However, just like how the pieces we came up with as choreographers over the years are affecting our personality and thoughts, and vice versa, the influence is mutual."