Review: It's My Turn

In this production, three City Contemporary Dance Company members - Bruce Wong, Lai Tak-wai and Lam Po - were joined by independent choreographer Rebecca Wong.

Although this wasn't a vintage year, all four pieces offered something to enjoy. There was no theme but each work made good use of props, from cardboard boxes to a real chicken wing cooked on stage.

The most original example of this was Lai's Timeline, where the focus was a huge square beam of wood some four metres long. On an otherwise bare stage, this became in turn a barrier, burden, hazard and the hand of a gigantic clock, as five dancers led by Dominic Wong, who manipulated the beam, moved fast, then slowly as Lai explored the concept of time.

In one riveting segment, Wong balanced the beam across his shoulders and began to spin faster and faster - a heart-in-the-mouth feat brought off by the dancer's strength, sense of balance and sheer willpower. In a stunning final image, the beam is suspended above the stage in a cone of light like an enormous metronome. Time is our master, the choreographer seems to say.

Rebecca Wong's A Hollowed Mind made a promising start with inventive, balletic duets juxtaposed with imagined group configurations. But when the focus shifted from dance to the dancers demolishing then rebuilding a wall of empty boxes the piece lost its way.