A dance for the times

 

As if to Nothing by the City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC) of Hong Kong and Between Lines by BeijingDance/LDTX, will feature in the first Hong Kong: Beijing Dance Platform, an initiative aimed at boosting exchange between modern dance artists from Beijing and Hong Kong. The two works will be staged at the PLA Theater of Beijing on Jan 8 and 10 respectively.

According to Willy Tsao, artistic director of both troupes, the annual event, part of CCDC's China Dance Development Program which aims to support, nurture and develop modern dance in China, will also invite other groups and independent artists from Beijing and Hong Kong in future.

At the time of Hong Kong's reunification with China in 1997, CCDC created the China Dance Development Program to assert itself as a Hong Kong-based dance company that endeavors to rally the best of Chinese talents to create dance for a contemporary China, says Tsao.

Both the chosen works will mark their Beijing premieres and both are choreographed by mainland artists - As if to Nothing by Tibetan artist Sang Jijia, and Between Lines by Li Hanzhong and Ma Bo, from the BeijingDance/LDTX.

Set to the original music by Dickson Dee, Sang's As if to Nothing examines the passage of time in a stream of memories.

Li and Ma, who are known for their dramatic movements and simple sets as seen in such works All River Red and The Cold Dagger, introduce new stage techniques, putting up a mountain and river on stage, in Between Lines. The choreographers also make a departure from their typical sharp athletic movements, and instead focus on and respond to the dancers' humanity in their new work.