Five dancers in a chilly rehearsal room repeat the same movement for the 15th time. No one is looking fed-up, the concentration is obvious, but you know they are all conscious of the man standing watching them. When a halt is called, they all strike poses of embarrassment, cockiness or rapt attention. One keeps going dizzily over the steps as if she cannot stop herself.
But choreographer Sunny Pang does not seem to be doing much apart from thinking. Ironically in a dancer, he is one of those rare still people.
In a backstage room at the Cultural Centre, he is considering the next steps in his new production, The Fantastical Theatrical Mr S, his chin pinched between finger and thumb, his body having slight goes at this movement and that.
There is not only an introspection about him but a precision that makes his latest show an ideal choice. Stravinsky is the composer with the complex counts and clearly the rhythmical inventiveness and lack of convention attracted Pang.
The production is testament to his tenacity. Pang, who joined the City Contemporary Dance Company in 1983 and co-founded the inter-disciplinary group Many-Levels In Performance, first tried to sell the idea of a Stravinsky night 10 years ago, but presenters thought the idea too risky.
Times have changed. Mr S was recently performed in Taiwan, and is being staged in Hong Kong from August 21.
'I've always found it very strange that whenever people think of Stravinsky, they think of Petrouchka, The Rite of Spring, or The Fire Bird,' said Pang, the artistic director of Dance Forum Taipei, 'when, in fact, he's composed much more interesting music for dance and for theatre, especially after he moved to America when he absorbed influences from popular music like jazz and ragtime.' For the SAR performances, Pang will present three pieces. His opener, Dance Concertantes written in 1942, was commissioned for an orchestra with a ballet suite in mind.
