There are uncanny parallels between Y-Space, an independent dance company set up by Victor Ma Choi-wo and Mandy Yim Ming-yin over a decade ago, and its work Air and Breath, a movement piece that was born of a crisis. Both artistic and non-mainstream, they're more appreciated abroad than locally and they're under the constant threat of being stifled.
'Movement comes from breathing, simple breathing creates so many feelings,' says dancer and choreographer Ma of the street performance work created for an annual dance festival in Norway in 2000 - the year they lost their annual government grant and studio in Kam Tin to redevelopment.
'At the time I didn't know what made me create that work, but it was at the most difficult time for us, when it was as if we were out of breath.'
Commissioned by the city of Bergen, Air and Breath is the result of a tight budget. Unable to afford costumes, Yim sewed four duvets together to create the creature at the centre of Air and Breath. Bundled inside the duvets, there is no indication of the gender or race of who is inside.
Y-Space was subsequently invited to perform the work in Dresden and Beijing, but it did not receive its Hong Kong premiere until June this year owing to the difficulty of getting permission for street performances in Hong Kong.
The company will head to Poland next Tuesday for a contemporary dance festival in Bytom. As well as performing the original Air and Breath outdoors, Y-Space will present a new theatre piece, Air and Breath II - Phenomenon 2008.
