The 2014 Arts Festival offered contemporary dance from established international masters along with new wave work from Asia, Scandinavia and Hong Kong itself.
Author - Natasha Rogai
![Lusymay Di Stefano and Claudio Coviello in [I]Giselle[/I].© Marco Brescia and Rudy Amisano, Teatro alla Scala. (Click image for larger version)](https://dancetabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/mb-giselle-lusymay-di-stefano-claudio-coviello-death_360.jpg)
The Festival kicked off with two classical ballet companies presenting very different versions of the oldest and most celebrated Romantic ballets in the repertoire: a classic rendering of Giselle and a radically different take on La Sylphide...
The production provides a welcome showcase for the power and virtuosity of the company’s men who are on magnificent form, led by the splendid Chen Jun.
Quintessential Eifman packed with athletic choreography, striking theatrical effects and superb dancing, it makes gripping entertainment if not high art.
It’s My Turn is the 2013 edition of City Contemporary Dance Company’s annual showcase for new choreography... Although this wasn’t a vintage year, all four pieces offered something to enjoy...
The show is lively, entertaining and features stand-out performances in the leading roles
Bouvier’s concept is valid and interesting, the execution less satisfying. She is certainly a talented choreographer and produces some striking images...
The Bolshoi Ballet are touring 'The Flames of Paris' to London this summer - but Natasha Rogai recently caught up with it in Moscow for us. So what shape is the company in?
The season began with a high-energy mixed bill which showed the company on sparkling form.
Ideological qualms aside, White Haired Girl is an odd bird. The choreography is a hybrid between textbook classical vocabulary and Chinese opera, an idea interesting in itself but here executed with a lack of imagination...
City Contemporary Dance Company’s closing show of 2012 was a welcome revival of Helen Lai’s 2004 The Comedy of K, a seminal work which shows this celebrated choreographer at the height of her powers.
"While this may not be a Nutcracker for those looking for subtlety or sophistication, it’s a fun show designed to thrill adults as well as children.
...an outstanding production which deserves to be seen again.
City Contemporary Dance Company’s Stripteaser 2012 offers four short works created by different choreographers, each working with – and supposedly drawing inspiration from - a local fashion designer.
The choice of programme was something of a curate’s egg – disappointingly so in view of the company’s rich repertoire – but two out of the four works were excellent and the dancing was spectacular.
Overall, this thoughtful piece confirms Yang as a choreographer of intelligence and originality. Design, lighting and music are all excellent, as is the dancing from this fine ensemble company.
The company brought two contrasting programmes, one classical, In the Steps of Petipa, and one modern, 4 Tendances (Four Tendencies). Of the two, the dancers looked far more at home in the contemporary pieces...
Dominic Wong is one of Hong Kong’s more unpredictable choreographers. Each new work he creates seems to explore a new direction and Blind Chance, his latest creation for City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC), is no exception.
Anyone who went to Les Ballets de Monte Carlo’s Le Songe, artistic director Jean-Christophe Maillot’s version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream expecting a family show will have been in for a shock. Packed with graphic sexual imagery from start to finish, this is the kind of production that has small children asking “What are they doing, Mummy?”...
Grosse Fugue by Maguy Marin... Performed with energy by the dancers and received with rapturous applause by some of the audience, this is either genius at work or less fun than watching paint dry, depending on your point of view.