HONG KONG BALLET AND COREY BAKER DANCE PRESENT

A NEW SHORT FILM FOR WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

LYING TOGETHER

Photo credit: Corey Baker Dance

[Hong Kong—4 June 2020] Hong Kong Ballet (HKB) has once again collaborated with UK-based company Corey Baker Dance, run by award-winning choreographer/director Corey Baker, to present a new short film, Lying Together. To raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity for our health and that of our planet, the film will have its world premiere screening through BBC’s Culture in Quarantine on Friday 5 June from 06:00 BST during World Environment Day.

Filmed across Hong Kong’s sprawling rural and urban areas, Lying Together features breathtaking aerial footage of dancers performing on the city’s highest skyscrapers. Company dancers Chen Zhiyao, Amber Lewis, Li Jiabo, Ma Renjie and Forrest Rain Oliveros, along with other HKB members, perform Baker’s quirky choreography with vibrant musical accompaniment from acclaimed multi-instrumentalist FKJ.

Lying Together is part of Baker’s larger collaboration and work with Birmingham Hippodrome and Arts Council England to celebrate Chinese New Year 2020. Spaghetti Junction, the companion film for Lying Together, also featuring Oliveros, was filmed beneath Birmingham’s (in)famous motorway intersection. The film was released on BBC Culture in Quarantine to mark World Earth Day earlier this year and achieved over 100,000 views within its first week.

Corey Baker Dance has an international reputation for creating a diverse array of work across film, TV, theatre, using unusual locations and reaching non-traditional theatre audiences. Lying Together was created as part of the “Ballet in the City—HKB Goes Viral” campaign and is supported by Arts Council England, Birmingham Hippodrome, West Midlands Growth Company, Southside BID, Tai Kwun, The Space and Hong Kong Tourism Board.

World Environment Day is the United Nations’ day for environmental action, celebrated on 5 June since 1974. This year’s theme is “It’s time #ForNature.” Bruno Pozzi, the United Nations Environment Programme Europe Director, explains, “Nature is behind our food, water, air, climate and medicine. We also know that being close to nature is good for our mental health. Yet biodiversity is under threat like never before. We must breathe life into our cities with more green buildings and spaces, and sustainable transport. This film and accompanying music sends out a powerful message to our eyes and ears—let’s celebrate nature, and set our relationship with it on a new track”.

You can watch the world premiere screening of Lying Together at 06.00 BST on BBC.CO.UK/ARTS on Friday 5 June as part of World Environment Day.

NOTES TO EDITORS: 
Lying Toghether’s full credit list;

SHARING THE FILM ONLINE

Head to Facebook (@OfficialCoreyBakerDance), Twitter (@coreybakerdance) or Instagram (@coreybakerdance) from 6am BST on 5 June 2020, and click ‘share, retweet, repost’ for the video.

Or directly share the film’s YouTube link on your own social media channels. If this is easier please be sure to tag @CoreyBakerDance and include the #LyingTogetherDanceFilm in any independent post you make.

Embedding Lying Together on your website:

Please ensure including the full list of film credits detailed above on any website you embed the film into.

  1. 1Here is the link to the film: https://youtu.be/0xLXD8npMXQ ‐ it is private until 6am BST Friday 5 June 2020, so will display as an exclamation mark for now!
  2. Set up a space on the website that’s suitable to place the film
  3. Click the ‘Share’ button that you see under the video.
  4. Then click ‘Embed’. The code you are given is the code you will need to embed onto your website.
  5. The film will go live at 6am BST on Friday 5 June, you can then share the embedded film via your own website directly on your social media accounts—again please be sure to tag @CoreyBakerDance and include the #LyingTogetherDanceFilm in any post you make.

Download High Resolution Images

Lying Together | Credit: Corey Baker Dance

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Lying Together | Credit: Corey Baker Dance

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About Hong Kong Ballet

One of Asia’s premier ballet companies, Hong Kong Ballet (HKB) is internationally recognised as a vibrant arts institution that represents Hong Kong’s unique character. Established in 1979 and led by Artistic Director Septime Webre, HKB has a dynamic repertoire performed by nearly 50 dancers from all over the globe and award-winning education and community programmes.

With almost 50 international tours, the Company has won recognition from critics and fans both at home and abroad. Its diverse repertoire includes classic and modern masterpieces, original full-length ballets created for the Company, an interactive ballet series for younger fans and groundbreaking dance by today’s most sought-after choreographers, including Alexei Ratmansky, Christopher Wheeldon, Jiří Kylian, Nacho Duato and Trey McIntyre, among others.

HKB maintains an active schedule of community initiatives throughout Hong Kong to ensure that ballet is accessible to people from all walks of life.

For further information, please contact:
Nick Chan
Director of Marketing
T: (852) 2105 9716
M: (852) 9728 1777
[email protected]

Nichol Chau
Senior Marketing Officer
T: (852) 2105 9753
M: (852) 5632 1755
[email protected]

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