Clement Lee

Something has refreshed the Hong Kong Cultural Centre since early this month when Hong Kong Ballet's season finale, WHEELDON, RATMANSKY, MCINTYRE & THE BEATLES, a showcase of three short pieces by arguably the best contemporary ballet choreographers at this day and age, was presented on the Grand Theatre stage.

Hong Kong Dance Company invites Beijing Dance Academy to collaborate again, doing two shows at two weekends, BEAUTY BEYOND WORDS: ANCIENT CHINESE DANCE CLASSICS, performed at Shatin Town Hall at last weekend, and the revival of DREAM OF THE PAST at Hong Kong Cultural Centre at the coming weekend. I saw BEAUTY BEYOND WORDS, and it was an exciting night for me as finally, Hong Kong Dance Company has regained her strength of being a dance company focusing on traditional Chinese dance after two wandering years.

Tony Award winner and renowned ballet choreographer Christopher Wheeldon (AN AMERICAN IN PARIS) is now in Hong Kong for the Asian premiere of his short piece 'Rush', originated in 2003 for San Francisco Ballet, now performed by Hong Kong Ballet in their programme WHEELDON, RATMANSKY, MCINTYRE & THE BEATLES, which also features two other pieces, 'Le Carnaval Des Animaux' by Alexei Ratmansky and 'A Day in the Life' by Trey McIntyre with hits by The Beatles.

Hal Prince really loves Brecht. This is my first initial reaction after seeing EVITA, the revival of Mr Prince's original West End and Broadway production of the musical by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice, now running in Hong Kong at the Hong Kong Acamedy of Performing Arts for its international tour with a brand new cast

Retelling the ancient Greek play by Aeschylus, which is the first part of his three Danaid plays (part two THE EGYPTIANS and part three THE DANAIDS do not survive), THE SUPPLIANT WOMEN, this new version by David Greig after the ancient Greek tragedian, is an actual and glorious ritual to make a testimony to the theatre, to the Festival, to the people and to the world we are living in.

I have to confess that I had two misconceptions of PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS before I entered the theatre to see it, which makes my experience of viewing this two-hour theatre a surprising yet also predictable engagement based on this year's Hong Kong Arts Festival's theme: 'What's real to me'.

Two theatre shows in the Festival, both ran at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, have their titles branded with the word 'Dream': BOSCH DREAMS and DREAM AND DERANGEMENT. Not much is similar to these two pieces, but I find it fascinating that both pieces approach theatre and the performing space not in a sense of showcasing performances but embedding the performances by the performers as part of the piece to make illusions.

Theatre of Nations (Russia)'s Shukshin's Stories, presented at the 46th Hong Kong Arts Festival, refines masculinity by exploring eight short stories by Vasily Shukshin.

TALE OF THREE CITIES showcases three short dance pieces by three different Companies in three 'cities' in East Asia: Bulareyaung Dance Company from Taitung in Taiwan, Han Dance Project from Seoul in Korea, and Hong Kong Dance Company from Hong Kong.

A NIGHT ON BROADWAY has strong vocals directly from Broadway, but needs a clear direction for the show itself to show the performers' unique sides.