Shows suggest life is elsewhere

Key to Strange Realm Mcmuimui Dansemble Kwai Tsing Black Box Theatre Reviewed: Nov 13

This multimedia dance show explores the concepts of journey and dislocation in a foreign land inspired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Doce Cuentos Peregrinos (Strange Pilgrims), a collection of 12 loosely related short stories.

The experimental piece is divided into 16 scenes and ideas such as death, love, nostalgia, fantasy, sex, being lost, longing and frustration are expressed through movement with music, narration and video projection.

A collaborative effort by choreographer Yeung Wai-mei and all the performers, including musician Veegay (Veronica Lee Duen-han), the production is strong both on concept and its artistic lineup. It is produced by Janice Poon, a literary researcher in theatre, and it features two generations of talented dancers: Abby Chan Man-yee (who formed Mcmuimui Dansemble with Yeung in 1997) and Ong Yong Lock, as well as the younger Chloe Wong, Flora Hon and Wong Tan-ki. Veegay's music provides a cohesive narrative to a series of vignettes and the use of a theremin, an early electronic instrument, is both appropriate and in context.

However, despite the theatre's cosy setting and audience interaction - in two scenes some members became the performance itself - Key to Strange Realm mostly fails to connect and engage. The music was colourful, emotional and dramatic throughout but not matched by the choreography and visual narratives until near the end. The show also lacked flow.

The fusion of the various media came together successfully only in the final scenes, when the dancers sprang to life, with video and sound superimposed onto the action, celebrating the journey of life actually going somewhere.