Hong Kong Dance Company Announces WAITING HEART

Waiting Heart is a modern interpretation of the acclaimed Cantonese opera The Legend of the Purple Hairpin. To celebrate the 101st anniversary of the birth of the eminent playwright Tong Tik-sang, the Hong Kong Dance Company (HKDC) and Utopia Cantonese Opera Workshop (UCOW) will stage this creative collaborative piece from 31st August to 2nd September at Hong Kong Cultural Centre Studio Theatre.

A Cutting-edge Theatre Experience

Bringing together the artistic elements of dance theatre and a minimalist approach to Cantonese opera, Waiting Heart reinterprets the classic love story of Huo Xiaoyu and Li Yi through multi-media. Live music and video projection, the switching of roles among dancers and actors, combine to create not just a performance but a unique evocation of emotion and atmosphere.

The production breaks the usual rules of theatre by making the audience a part of the performance. Half of them, seated in the stalls right next to the stage, will be impacted by performers' facial expressions in a closer distance; the other half of the audience, standing in the gallery, will have a bird's eye view of the events.

Established in 1981 with the aim of promoting Chinese dance, the Hong Kong Dance Company was incorporated in 2001 as a charitable and non-profit-making institution, and is financially supported by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Since its inception, HKDC has staged over 100 productions, many to critical acclaim. Recent productions have included Qingming Riverside, Snow Fox, Two Swallows - Ode to Wu Guanzhong, Spring Ritual·Eulogy, Pop Classics: Joseph Koo's Dance Melodies 2013, The Legend of Mulan, The Butterfly Lovers, Storm Clouds, L'Amour Immortel, Reveries of the Red Chamber, Chinese Hero: A Lone Exile, Kaleidoscope of Dance from Yunnan, Vipassana and Lady White of West Lake.

The Company has toured internationally, as well as around mainland China, to encourage cultural exchange. HKDC was invited to perform at the "Meet in Beijing 2008" Arts Festival to celebrating the Beijing Olympics and took part in the opening ceremony of the East Asian Games in 2009. In 2010, it participated in "The Ninth China Art Festival" in Guangzhou and the World Expo in Shanghai, and in January 2013, presented Qingming Riverside at The Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Spring Ritual · Eulogy was presented at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing in September 2013 and at the Novel Hall for Performing Arts in Taipei in December 2013 as part of Hong Kong Week 2013. The Butterfly Lovers was showcased at the Korea Dance Festival in April 2016. The Legend of Mulan was performed at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York in March 2015, in Sydney in September 2015, and in London in April 2017. The three-time Hong Kong Dance Award winner L'Amour Immortel was presented at Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center and at the Guangzhou Opera House in July 2017. HKDC took Vipassana - In the Beginning to the International Buddhism Dance Festival in Seoul this April.

Utopia Cantonese Opera Workshop

Utopia Cantonese Opera Workshop (UCOW) was established in 1999 and later registered as a charitable organization. An art form needs young successors to build a road: at one end of this road is Bo Le, the legendary Chinese connoisseur of fine horses and at the other the legendary winged steed. In the middle is Utopia, just a humble street cleaner on the road. Utopia wishes to build a platform, holding both tradition and modernity. Our three objectives are Stage Production, Education and Promotion, and Preservation and Research. It is our aim to present this local art form to the world.

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