Review: Hong Kong Ballet Choreographers' Showcase 2015
Dancers from troupe show real promise as choreographers, but only one of three guest choreographers plays to its classical dance strengths
Hong Kong Ballet’s choreographic showcase programmes are a vital means of identifying and nurturing creative talent within the company. They always offer much to enjoy, and the 2015 edition was no exception, if not as fine a vintage as 2014. This time, in addition to its own dancers, the company invited three outside choreographers from contemporary dance backgrounds to contribute pieces to the programme, the theme of which was “Hong Kong”.
The high point of the evening was guest Nguyen Ngoc Anh’s Evol, inspired by the city’s ultra-modern architecture. One of Anh’s trademarks is his imaginative design concepts – here, a metallic mannequin hangs above the stage and explodes in a shower of glitter at the end. A dazzling piece in the manner of William Forsythe, it was danced with spectacular daring and energy by a cast of five, with Xia Jun and Gao Ge the stand-outs. This was the only piece to put the women on pointe and showed Anh’s readiness to engage and experiment with classical technique.
The most substantive work from the home team was Li Jia-bo ’s dark, dreamlike Keep Watch, set to music by Arvo Pärt and performed movingly by Liu Yiuyao and Shen Jie. It’s a complex piece, featuring striking stage effects, which could be developed further.
Two young dancers showed real promise as choreographers. Yui Sugawara’s Enlightening was impressively accomplished, with strong structure and excellent use of space, while Kenneth Hui Ka-chun’s Panta Rhei evoked the daily struggle of life in a crowded city through bold, dynamic movement with much demanding partnering.
Jonathan Spigner’s Days Gone By had a strong middle section that brought out the best in his dancers but overall needed a sharper focus.