You can look forward or you can look back this week with two contrasting performances, one representing the new China, and the other Victorian Britain.
New China is here in the form of the National Ballet of China, which performs this weekend in Sha Tin and next weekend in Tuen Mun. This is not the company's first visit to Hong Kong, they were a big hit when they performed here at the end of 1994, but of course they aren't on a foreign tour this time.
Tomorrow, Sunday and Monday, dance fans will be able to see Rudolf Nureyev's version of Don Quixote at Sha Tin Town Hall. The story revolves around the eponymous hero of Cervantes' famous comic novel, accompanied by his sidekick Sancho Panza, this time helping a pair of star-struck lovers to the altar, against the opposition of the bride's father.
Next week, on July 11 and 12, there will be a re-run of the famous ballet, The Red Detachment of Women. Set in the 1930s, this is also about star-crossed lovers in a way, although they see a happy ending as being married to the Communist Party, rather than to each other.
Qionghua is an oppressed peasant woman, and Hong Changqing is the Red Army hero who liberates her.
This was a particular favourite of Mao Zedong , and his wife Jiang Qing , who for a decade during the Cultural Revolution, did her best to destroy any originality in Chinese cultural life.
Before the remaining foreign journalists start jumping up and down at the timing of this performance, mere days after Hong Kong returned to China, it should be noted that for nearly two decades after the Cultural Revolution, it was not performed in China, partly because everyone was heartily sick of it.
