Main
Content
The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) is partnering with the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) to lead a delegation of dance artists to one of the largest biennial professional dance gatherings, the internationale tanzmesse nrw 2018 (Tanzmesse) from 29 August to 1 September 2018. This delegation features the diversity and dynamics of Hong Kong’s contemporary dance scene.
The Tanzmesse fair brings together more than 1,900 artists and industry representatives from over 50 countries across Europe, the United States, Africa, and Asia. HKADC led Hong Kong’s inaugural representation at Tanzmesse 2016 with a delegation composed of around 60 Hong Kong contemporary artists and arts administrators. This year, a delegation of over 50 choreographers, producers and arts administrators will be hosted by HKADC and organised by WKCDA to participate in Tanzmesse. Under the theme ‘Dance in Hong Kong’, the participation aims to elevate the visibility of Hong Kong’s contemporary dance performances on the global stage and provide local dancers with an opportunity to initiate artistic dialogue with international peers.
WKCDA and HKADC will have an exhibition booth (booth 27) during the four-day fair to host meetings for participating artists, producers, dance groups and representatives of arts organisations. WKCDA also will organize a “Networking Reception” to enhance exchange and enable the artists to establish crucial networks and engage in conversations with international dance counterparts. WKCDA will also organise a “Breakfast Presentation” to introduce the newly established Asia Network for Dance (AND+), which is dedicated to linking, developing and enhancing dance practices in Asia.
In addition to the exhibition booth, the HKADC dance group members selected and recommended 13 original works from Hong Kong for potential showcase at Tanzmesse, which selected So Low by Lai Tak-wai and Contempo Lion Dance (Working Title) by Daniel Yeung to be featured and performed as a part of the fair’s Performance Programme and Open Studio series. The two performances are funded by HKADC to support Hong Kong artists in presenting the optimal gateway for Hong Kong’s creativity and talent to go abroad. HKADC is also supporting 15 local dance artists and arts administrators to participate in this high-impact international contemporary dance event, to broaden the exposure of local dancers in the international dance market, establish global connections, and increase artistic exchanges.
Alison Friedman, Artistic Director, Performing Arts, WKCDA, emphasised the advantages of elevating the international stature of local dance communities through this collaboration at Tanzmesse: “WKCDA is glad to be partnering with HKADC to organise Hong Kong’s representation at this important industry conference. We are committed to the cultivation of artistic talent and the promotion of cultural exchange between Hong Kong artists and their international peers. Tanzmesse provides Hong Kong’s artists a critical platform to showcase their works on the world stage. We are thrilled to celebrate Hong Kong dance and dancers.”
Winsome Chow, Chief Executive of HKADC, said: “After taking local dance artists and producers to Tanzmesse for the first time in 2016, HKADC is delighted to collaborate with WKCDA this year to promote local talent and showcase their diversified contemporary dance works internationally once more. We hope to expand the overseas market and deepen the connections between Hong Kong contemporary dance artists and their international counterparts. We encourage them to explore future collaboration opportunities through exchanging views and ideas. We expect the exchange can provide new vision and creativity for the Hong Kong dance sector and explore the possibilities of contemporary dance.”
Anna CY Chan, Head of Dance, Performing Arts, WKCDA, stressed the importance of participation in the Tanzmesse: “Tanzmesse is one of the most significant international dance gatherings, attracting dance artists from around the world every two years. Through the exhibition booth, we offer space for Hong Kong artists to engage in conversations with artists from different backgrounds, to exchange ideas and encourage cross-cultural collaboration. Tanzmesse also offers a wealth of events in the performance programme and talk series, which can provide valuable inspiration for future work development, and a precious opportunity for Hong Kong artists to learn and model from.”
Further information is available on official website: https://www.westkowloon.hk/tanzmesse2018
Hong Kong Tanzmesse Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tanzmessehk
Hong Kong Tanzmesse Twitter: http://twitter.com/tanzmessehk
Remarks
West Kowloon Cultural District
Located on Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, the West Kowloon Cultural District is one of the largest cultural projects in the world. Its vision is to create a vibrant new cultural quarter for Hong Kong. With a complex of theatres, performance spaces and museums, the West Kowloon Cultural District will produce and host world-class exhibitions, performances and cultural events, as well as provide 23 hectares of public open space, including a two-kilometre waterfront promenade.
Hong Kong Arts Development Council
Established in 1995, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) is a statutory body set up by the Government to plan, promote and support the broad development of the arts including literary arts, performing arts, visual arts as well as film and media arts in Hong Kong. Aiming to foster a thriving arts environment and enhancing the quality of life of the public, HKADC is also committed to facilitating community-wide participation in the arts and arts education, encouraging arts criticism, raising the standard of arts administration and strengthening the work on policy research.
internationale tanzmesse nrw 2018 (Tanzmesse)
The biennial internationale tanzmesse nrw (Tanzmesse) hosts the largest professional gathering in the world dedicated exclusively to contemporary dance. It encompasses a diverse programme, including dance exhibitions, lectures, panels, and all forms of performances, attracting the participation of artists from over 50 countries across Europe, the United States and Asia. In this year’s Tanzmesse, there will be 121 booths from 35 countries, and China has been invited to be the host country.
Annex
General Information
internationale tanzmesse nrw 2018 booth details
‘Dance in Hong Kong’ booth
Date: 30 August to 1 September 2018
Venue: Booth 27
Networking Reception
Date: 30 August 2018
Time: 1:30pm
Venue: Booth 27
Breakfast Presentation: Asia Network for Dance (AND+)
Date: 30 August 2018
Time: 9:00am
Venue: Café, NRW-Forum Düsseldorf
Content: This talk will share the formation process and collective outcome of the two years discussion including the structure, vision and missions of the network and how it connects with other similar network and projects around the world.
Facilitator: Anna CY Chan (Head of Dance, Performing Arts, WKCDA)
Hong Kong Productions at Tazmesse Performance Programme and Open Studio
Performance Programme – So Low by Lai Tak-wai
Awarded Outstanding Choreography of the 20th Hong Kong Dance Awards, So Low depicts how man flounders in the face of time. Commissioned by Leisure and Cultural Services Department, this concert-length solo premiered in Hong Kong in January 2017. It was re-staged in November of the same year at City Contemporary Dance Festival.
Date: 30 August 2018
Time: 8:30pm
Venue: Small Stage, tanzhaus nrw
Choreographer / Performer: Lai Tak-wai
Open Studio – Contempo Lion Dance by Daniel Yeung
Premiered in 2016, the original LionDance was commissioned by 8/F Platform, Hong Kong Dance Company. It created a new approach to body and movement training and appreciating dance. It also provided a new performing experience by reinterpreting the Hong Kong traditional lion dancing culture in a contemporary way. In 2017, Yeung further developed the LionDance concept in ContempoLion which was commissioned by ArtisTree the art space in Swire Properties’ Taikoo Place.
Date: 31 August 2018
Time: 6:00pm
Venue: Studio 5, tanzhaus nrw
Choreographer: Daniel Yeung
Devising Performers: Hugh Cho, Soames Lee, Mao Wei, Tracy Wong, Kwok’s Kung Fu & Dragon Lion Dance Team
Hong Kong delegation supported by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council
Artists
Blue Ka Wing
Blue Ka Wing graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 2010 with a degree in fine arts (contemporary dance and choreography). She is currently an independent dance artist. Her choreographic works include The Neighbour, The Left Hander, My Daddy, My Flying Car and Me, Time Lag, The Invisible S and Cecilia’s Rhapsody. Time Lag was shortlisted for Outstanding Choreography in the Hong Kong Dance Awards 2017.
Victor Fung
Victor Fung is an award-winning choreographer based in Hong Kong and London. He is the Artistic Director of Victor Fung Dance and Associate Artist of Swindon Dance in the U.K. He received the Award for Young Artist at the Hong Kong Arts Development Awards 2013 for his international achievements in dance. Fung was supported by the Arts Council England, Chisenhale Dance Space (London), Hong Kong Arts Development Council, City Contemporary Dance Company, and Junior Dance Company (Italy) and has been commissioned by worldwide organizations to create works. His work Not Enough (Beyond Reason) was awarded as one of the three Outstanding Achievement in Independent Production in the Hong Kong Dance Award 2012. Aside from choreographing, Fung is currently a Shadow Trustee of Hofesh Shechter Company and was a Clore Fellow under the mentorship of Wayne McGregor. He is also conducting a doctoral research in dance with Middlesex University and Dance4.
Cyrus Hui Chun-kit
Cyrus Hui Chun-kit studied at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and Folkwang Universität der Künste. He was awarded with his team for Positioning@Central Pier in Hong Kong Dance Awards 2011 and shortlisted in Hong Kong Dance Awards 2015 and 2017 respectively for Here It Goes Again and Dance, for No Reason. Hui is the artistic director of Siu Lung Fung Dance Theatre and in recent years, has been devoting himself to exchange programmes for young Asian choreographers for the purpose of promoting collaboration among choreographers, dancers and artists from other disciplines. He is also a board member of Hong Kong Dance Alliance.
Lai Tak-wai
Lai Tak-wai graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, with a major in modern dance. As a student, he received the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation Scholarship (2000-2002), Dean of Dance School Scholarship (2002), The Spring-Time Scholarship (2001) and Carl Wolz Memorial Scholarship. In 2002, Lai received the Hong Kong Jockey Club Dance Fund Scholarship to further his studies at the National Conservatoire of Music and Dance in Paris. He then joined the Junior Ballet Contemporain in Paris for the 2002/03 season. Lai was a full-time dancer at Cloud Gate Dance Theatre in 2005 and CCDC from 2008 to 2014, with which he performed around the globe.
Max Lee Kin-wai
Choreographer, dancer, actor and video designer, Max Lee Kin-wai studied at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and London Contemporary Dance School. He founded Room 9 Dance Theatre in 2011 and is an active practitioner in local and overseas stage productions. His choreographic works include Room 9, Silent Box, Talk to Me, Galaxy Dreamer, the latter presented at the Adelaide Fringe Festival where it received a four-star review by The Advertiser. Lee was the assistant choreographer of long-running drama Field Of Dreams – A Musical and the movie, Office.
Joseph Lee
After graduating from The Chinese University of Hong Kong with a bachelor degree in Professional Accountancy, Joseph Lee furthered his dance training at The Place, London Contemporary Dance School in UK, where he obtained a Master of Arts in Contemporary Dance. In 2015, Lee joined Unlock Dancing Plaza, where he is currently the resident artist. He has worked with Crystal Pite (Kidd Pivot), Maresa Von Stockert (Tilted Production), Emmanuelle Vo-dinh, Chou Shu-Yi, and Ong Yonglock. Lee was awarded the Chin Lin Foundation of Emerging Choreographer (Seoul), and was nominated as Outstanding Emerging Choreographer at the Hong Kong Dance Awards 2018.
Pak Wei-ming
Pak Wei-ming graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, majoring in contemporary dance and choreography. In 2013, he received a full DanceWEB scholarship to the ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival. In 2014, Pak collaborated with US-based artist Trajal Harrell and performed The Ghost of Montpellier Meets the Samurai at Montpellier Dance Festival and Centre Georges Pompidou. Pak has choreographed and produced works independently since 2009, including Pomelo. Orange. Tangerine, Toilet Pump, 900'', INTERPRETATIONS 2 and Tint.
Wayson Poon
Wayson Poon creates, performs, researches and teaches in different European and Asian cities. His choreographic works, such as Fleeing By Night, Behind 3.0 and Untitled, have been staged at the Guangdong Modern Dance Festival, Full Moon Dance Festival in Pyhäjärvi and the City Contemporary Dance Festival in Hong Kong; in,visible (cities) was staged at the i-Dance Festival in Hong Kong and Vortex at the 46th Hong Kong Arts Festival. In recent years, Poon has been introducing his body philosophy to artists in Sweden, the UK, Korea, Australia, Finland and Japan. He received the Young Artist (Dance) Award at the Hong Kong Arts Development Awards 2016.
Ivy Tsui Yik-chit
Ivy Tsui Yik-chit, an independent dance artist based in Hong Kong, won the award for Young Artist (Dance) in the Hong Kong Arts Development Awards 2015. She specialises in site-specific dance inspired by the environment – a dance form which narrows the gap between her and the audience as she shares the moment with people around her. Tsui is sensitive to nature and has followed a floral thematic approach to creating dance. Her works include Water Lilies, Dehydrated Flower, Morning Glory and Frangipani. In her poetic, simple, and forceful presentation, she contemplates the existence of human beings and the body.
Wong Pik Kei
Using her personal experience as the departure point, Wong Pik Kei creates ‘lascivious’ dance works to represent the drastically different ways in which femininity, the body and carnal desire are expressed in private and in public. Wong graduated from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, major in contemporary choreography. She brings visual arts elements into dance and often directly involves the audience in her performances. Her works have been performed in Olafsfjordur, Fukuoka, Busan, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu and Guangzhou.
KT Yau
Born in Hong Kong, KT Yau graduated with a B.F.A (Hons) in contemporary dance from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 2013. In the same year she became a dancer at Y-space. In 2016, she devoted herself to further her dance studies by attending professional workshops and taking part in an exchange programme in Israel. Currently a Hong Kong-based freelance artist, Yau has been commissioned by a variety of renowned local organisations and arts festivals. Her recently created dance pieces include Unmixed (2017), Remain Invisible (2016) and Stubborn...ing (2014).
Daniel Yeung
Having graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong with major in Fine Arts and minor in Chinese Music, Daniel Yeung is a self-taught dancer and was twice awarded scholarships to study choreography in Holland and London. He was applauded by Europe’s BalletTanz year book as The Choreographer to Look At and was awarded the Rising Artist Award by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council 2002. Yeung is also a six-time awardee of the Hong Kong Dance Awards (2000, 2005, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014), organized by the Hong Kong Dance Alliance, and twice-won Top Five Best Dance Works of the Year from the South China Morning Post. In 2012, he was awarded by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council as the Best Artist of the Year (Dance) for his contributions on curating, choreographing, performing, teaching and criticism on developing Hong Kong dance culture.
Yang Hao
Yang Hao was born in Chongqing, China and is based in Hong Kong and studied in the Chinese Song and Dance Troupe Arts School, Beijing. He has been a member of China National Opera and Dance Drama Theatre, Guangzhou Song and Dance Troupe and Guangzhou Modern Dance Company, with which he toured in Europe and North America. In 2007, Yang received a full scholarship to study at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Between 2009 and 2012 he was a dancer with the City Contemporary Dance Company.
Jacky Yu Yan-wah
Jacky Yu Yan-wah was in the first class to graduate from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and founded E-Side Dance Company in 1988. In the same year, he was awarded the Lee Hysan Foundation Fellowship of the Asian Cultural Council to further his studies in the United States. In 2012, Yu received an award from the Secretary for Home Affairs’ Commendation Scheme for his outstanding contribution to the arts and culture and was recognised as Artist of the Year (Dance) in the Hong Kong Arts Development Awards 2015. His choreographic works have been performed by Cloud Gate, Guangdong Modern Dance Company, City Contemporary Dance Company and Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
Producers
Carrol Ho
Carrol Ho graduated from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 2009 with a major in Chinese dance performance and minor in dance education. Previously, she was an arts administrator and manager at the Festivals Office of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the HKSAR and the City Contemporary Dance Company, a renowned dance organisation in Hong Kong. Since 2014, Ho became an independent producer, working on dance performances for independent choreographers, coordinating events for festivals in Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Vienna, touring dance productions in London, Tallinn, Beijing and Taiwan, as well as producing dance film and curating new dance projects. Carrol recently obtained her Master’s degree in Culture, Policy and Management from the City, University of London with the Overseas Arts Administration Scholarships from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.
Michael Li
Michael Li is the Programme and Marketing Officer of Unlock Dancing Plaza. Founded in 2002, Unlock Dancing Plaza is a unique and promising modern dance company led by Artistic Director Ong Yonglock. It has been financially supported by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council since 2009. Recent dance productions include Simon Says, Never-Never Land, Boy Story. Reborn, Wanderer, serial dance-theatre Walls 44, Lost & Found, and Chopin VS Ca. Phoenix III – Read the World with Your Heart, Wanderer and Boy Story. Reborn received respectively Hong Kong Dance Awards 2009, 2015 and 2016.
Pandora Sin
Pandora Sin is the Company Development Manager of Passoverdance. Established in 1993, Passoverdance is a local non-profit dance organisation that was restructured in 2008 by Pewan Chow, Mak Sau-wai and a group of enthusiastic young artists. Passoverdance has been a grantee organisation of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council since 2016. It is dedicated to fostering and developing local dance culture and identifying and nurturing new talents in the community. Passoverdance explores the infinite possibilities of the art of dance and presents the purity and individuality of each work in order to create profound dialogue and interaction between the audience and the dance.
Editorial
- Log in to post comments