Hong Kong Ballet’s 2016/17 Season Finale
Carmen and More
A HKSAR’s 20th anniversary programme featuring two masterpieces by legendary choreographer Jiří Kylián and a new Carmen with music by Bizet/Shchedrin and local rock star Mike Orange of Chochukmo fame
Brand New! Ballet PLUS+
A two-year audience development initiative
to promote contemporary ballet for all
[Hong Kong – 5 April 2017] As the curtain falls on its 2016/17 Season, Hong Kong Ballet celebrates the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s 20th anniversary with its finale production Carmen and More, an eclectic mixed bill showcasing the complex facets of lust, ambition, joy and anger through the art of ballet.
The Company is proud to present the world première of its original edition of Carmen by its own choreographers Yuh Egami and Ricky Song-wei Hu, set to music by Bizet/Shchedrin with additional compositions by local rock musician Mike Orange of indie band Chochukmo. A passionate, free-spirited woman gets swept up in a fatal love triangle against the backdrop of a fabric factory and challenges the boundaries of social acceptability. Senior Ballet Master and former Company Principal Dancer Jing Liang will return to the stage for an appearance as José in this new production as well.
Joyful and celebratory, Shape of Glow premièred in 2014 and was created especially for the Company by celebrated choreographer Jorma Elo, using the dancers’ bodies to explore the mood and texture of Mozart’s and Beethoven’s glorious music.
Following its tradition in featuring iconic dance-makers in its annual mixed programme, Hong Kong Ballet is also thrilled to première two riveting Jiří Kylián’s works this year - the erotic Petite Mort where classical and modern movements meet, as well as Sechs Tänze, inspired by Mozart’s humour and musical brilliance. This mixed bill features something for every ballet lover.
Carmen and More will run from 26-28 May 2017 (Friday to Sunday) at the Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre for four performances. Tickets are priced at $680, $480, $280 and $140, with VIP tickets at $1,000. Tickets are available at URBTIX now.
Ballet PLUS+
Ballet PLUS+ is the Company’s new two-year audience development initiative to promote contemporary ballet, with the 2017 and 2018 mixed bill productions as the destination main stage performances. The series of symposium, films, workshops and discussions provides insights about the works and the processes of the choreographers creating them. It aims to cultivate Hong Kong audiences’ interest and appreciation for contemporary ballet and as a result grow the audience for it.
In addition to providing training to nurture, collaborate and challenge the artistic growth of local choreographers and dancers with internationally renowned choreographers, Ballet PLUS+ will also establish a platform for intellectual discourse and social engagement with ballet while expanding our outreach and the breadth of our audiences at large. This year the programme will run from March to June. For more details, please visit hkballet.com/balletplus
About Carmen
Hong Kong Ballet dancers Yuh Egami and Ricky Song-wei Hu revive their unique collaborative partnership to bring to the stage an original reinterpretation of Prosper Mérimée's novel Carmen -The most famous opera and ballet in history with composition by Georges Bizet.
Influenced by modern society, Egami and Hu's Carmen is set in a fabric factory. Carmen’s former lover, José, poignantly tells the story in flashbacks as he revisits the now-abandoned factory -- a symbol of cold, mechanical capitalism. José remembers the enigma of Carmen-- sometimes she seems a manipulative seductress, sometimes a victim of obsessive love...but always she is compellingly, fearlessly, forcefully alive. Fabric weaves its way through the ballet, alternately hiding and revealing the characters' true personalities, and symbolising the bonds of affection between them.
Rodion Shchedrin's dynamic Carmen Suites is complimented by additional new cinematic composition work by Mike Orange, member of renowned local indie band Chochukmo. Layers of intricate detail are added to Egami and Hu's vision through lighting designs by Alice Kwong's, sets by Wai-man Siu, and costumes by Toi-ling Yu.
Choreography: Yuh Egami and Ricky Song-wei Hu
Music: Georges Bizet, Rodion
Shchedrin, Mike Orange
Set Design: Wai-man Siu
Costume Design: Toi-ling Yu
Assistant to Costume Designer: Carmen Chan
Lighting Design: Alice Kwong
About Shape of Glow
Musicality is the key to unlocking the secrets of Shape of Glow. Set to three pieces of music by Mozart and Beethoven, Shape of Glow is a study of the structure of music. Its energy resides in the score. Jorma Elo uses the dancers’ bodies to explore the mood and texture of Mozart’s and Beethoven’s orchestrations. The steps speak of the emotions sparked within Elo by the music as he created the ballet. Joyful and celebratory, this majestic piece was created especially for Hong Kong Ballet.
Choreography: Jorma Elo
Music: Mozart Symphony No. 28 in C
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat
Beethoven Consecration of the House Overture
Costume Designer: Yumiko Takeshima
Lighting Designer: Goh Boon Ann
Relighting: Alice Kwong
About Petite Mort
One of the most influential choreographers of our time, Jirí Kylián poetically blends classical movements with provocative, modern movements in the raw and sensual Petite Mort, set to two sublime Mozart piano concertos, in its riveting Hong Kong Ballet première. Sharp staccato-like movements are contrasted with lyrical, vulnerable moves, dramatically exuding sexual energy and symbolic vulnerability. According to Kylián, the six men and six women in Petite Mort remind us that “our lives are of a relatively short duration, and that death is never too far from us.”
Choreography: Jiří Kylián
Music: Mozart Piano Concerto in A (KV 488), Adagio
Mozart Piano Concerto in C (KV 467), Andante
Set Design: Jirí Kylián
Costume Design: Joke Visser
Lighting Design: Jirí Kylián (concept), Joop Caboort (realisation)
Relighting: Alice Kwong
About Sechs Tänze
In Hong Kong Ballet’s première of Sechs Tänze (Six Dances), Jirí Kylián captures emotions and energy and transforms them into playful movement effortlessly. Full of visual surprises and set in the time period of the music’s composer, Mozart, the six seemingly nonsensical acts entertains with dramatic avante garde movements and comical gestures inspired by Mozart’s humour and musical brilliance.
Choreography: Jiří Kylián
Music: Mozart Sechs Deutsche Tänze, KV 571
Scenery and costumes: Jiří Kylián
Lighting Design: Jiří Kylián (concept), Joop Caboort (realization)
Relighting: Alice Kwong
Choreographers
Yuh Egami and Ricky Song-wei Hu
Born in Okinawa, Japan, Yuh Egami trained locally at Fumika Morishima Ballet & Jazz dance school and later at The Royal Ballet School in London before joining Hong Kong Ballet in 2002. He assumed the additional role of Répétiteur for the Company in 2014. Egami has presented works at Hong Kong Ballet’s Choreographers’ Showcase and he also contributed choreography to full-length production Firecracker (2010) as an associate choreographer to Yuri Ng. Egami was invited to re-choreograph Yuri Ng’s Devil’s Tale for Architanz in Japan (2015) and also choreographed Sonographer (2011) and Firefly (2016) for E-side Dance Company in Hong Kong.
Born in Jiangxi, China, Ricky Song-wei Hu trained at Shanghai Dance School, and later at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Hu joined Hong Kong Ballet in 2008. Hu’s choreographic works include Voicing (2011), Twins (2010) for Hong Kong Ballet’s Choreographers’ Showcase. Rush (2013), Play with Abandon (2012) for Hong Kong Arts Festival. Lost in Memory (2013) for D. Lab Dance in Shanghai. Additionally, Hu choreographed DiviNation (2016)with Allen Lam-presented by Muse Motionin Hong Kong. Hu received the Award for Young Artist in Dance at the Hong Kong Arts Development Council Awards in 2012.
Together, Egami and Hu have presented Horn (2014) and White Lies (2012) at Hong Kong Ballet’s Choreographers’ Showcase and co-choreographed the full-length production The Frog Prince-A Ballet Chinois (2013) with Yuri Ng. Egami and Hu’s collaboration on Bolero (2015) for Hong Kong Ballet’s Paquita, Bolero, Carnival+ won Outstanding Ensemble performance at the Hong Kong Dance Awards 2016 . Most recently, they participated in West Kowloon Cultural District Authority’s ‘New Works Forum: Choreographer & Composer Lab’ to further explore their choreographic possibilities.
Jorma Elo
Finnish-born Jorma Elo danced with Finnish National Ballet and Cullberg Ballet before joining Nederlands Dans Theater. He began creating works in the year 2000, and since then he has become one of the most sought-after choreographers in the world. Elo is currently Resident Choreographer at Boston Ballet and he has won numerous accolades including the first ever Rudolf Nureyev Prize for New Dance, the prestigious Prix Benois de la Danse for best choreography, the Choo San Goh Award for Choreography and a Prince Charitable Trust award.
Jiří Kylián
Jiří Kylián started his dance career at the age of nine at the School of the National Ballet in Prague. After studying at the Royal Ballet School in London with scholarships, he joined the Stuttgart Ballett led by John Cranko. In 1975, Kylián became Artistic Director of the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) in The Hague. In 1978, he put NDT on the international map with Sinfonietta. That same year, he founded NDT 2, which was meant to function as a breeding ground for young talent. He also initiated NDT 3 in 1991, the company for older dancers from forty till “death”. This three dimensional structure was unique in the world of dance. After an extraordinary record of service, with an oeuvre of almost 100 ballets, Kylián handed over the artistic leadership in 1999 and remained associated to the company as house choreographer until December 2009. He directed four dance films Car-Men (2006), Between Entrance & Exit (2013), Schwarzfahrer (2014) and Scalamare (2017).
Kylián received many international awards including: Officer of the Orange Order (Netherlands), Honorary Doctorate from The Juilliard School, three Nijinsky Awards (best choreographer, company and work), Benoit de la Dance (Moscow), Honorary Medal of the President of the Czech Republic and Commander of the Legion d'honneur (France). In 2008, he received the distinguished Medal of the Order of the House of Orange from Her Majesty the Queen Beatrix from the Netherlands. In 2011, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award (Dance & Theatre) by the Czech Ministry of Culture.
Performance Details
Programme
Jorma Elo Shapeof Glow
Yuh Egami and Ricky Song-wei Hu Carmen
Jirí Kylián Petite Mort
Jirí Kylián Sechs Tänze
26-28.5.2017
Fri 7:30pm | Sat 2:30pm & 7:30pm | Sun 2:30pm
4 performances
Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre
$1,000 (Limited VIP Tickets)
$680 $480 $280 $140 | * $340 $240 $140 $70
Tickets now available at URBTIX
* Available for full-time students, senior citizen aged 60 or above and people with disabilities
Ticketing Enquiries: 3761 6661
Credit Card Booking: 2111 5999
Internet Booking: www.urbtix.hk
Programme Enquiries: 2105 9724
Suitable for ages 6 and above
The presenter reserves the right to alter the programme and artists
The performance lasts approximately 2 hours including an intermission
Discounts
|
50% off |
Full-time students, senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities and the minder (Limited tickets for students and senior citizens available on a first-come, first-served basis. This discount cannot be used in conjunction with other discounts.) |
|
15% off |
Friends of Hong Kong Ballet |
|
10% off (First two tickets) |
CCDC Dance Inspirations card holders, Members of Chung Ying Theatre’s Energy Fun Club Plus, Friends of HKCO, Friends of HKDC Prestige Members, HK Phil Club Bravo members, Members of HKRep Pals, Zuni’s Friends, Fringe Club Members, Hong Kong Dance Alliance members, Hong Kong Arts Administrators Association members and HKBU Foundation members |
|
Group Booking |
10% off for every purchase of 10-19 tickets at regular price, 15% off for 20-40 tickets |
Patrons can enjoy only one of the above discounts for each purchase.
Discounts are not applicable to $1,000 VIP tickets.
$1,000 VIP Ticket Holders Special Privilege
Present your ticket stub to Hong Kong Ballet’s reception counter (Level 2 Foyer, Hong Kong Cultural Centre) before the performance or during the intermission to receive a coupon for a free drink. Each ticket stub is valid for one free drink only.
Programme Plus!
The Preview of Carmen and More
Come for an exclusive sneak peak during this inspiring preview of Carmen and More! With dramatic excerpts from renowned choreographer Jirí Kylián’s two works Petite Mort and Sechs Tänze, Jorma Elo’s euphoric Shape of Glow and Yuh Egami and Ricky Song-wei Hu’s sensual Carmen, this evening features a powerful blend of classical and contemporary ballet. Hong Kong Ballet dancers, choreographers, designers and/or other special guests will give you an up close and personal look inside the creative process of this production. Don’t miss this special evening – come early to get a good seat!
Date: 16.5.2017 (Tue)
Time: 7:30pm - 8:45pm
Venue: Studio Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre
Free admission
Conducted in English
Suitable for ages 6 and above
Limited capacity, advance
registration required
Registration Details: hkballet.com/preview
Pre-performance Talks
Join us for an engaging 20-minute introduction to the eclectic Carmen and More performances, which may explore the choreography, music, history, design and process of bringing these exciting works to life. Learn more from the people behind the scenes and onstage, and
enhance your evening at the ballet!
Date: 26.5.2017 (Fri)
Time: 6:50pm - 7:10pm
[Conducted in Cantonese]
Date: 27.5.2017 (Sat)
Time: 6:50pm - 7:10pm
[Conducted in English]
Level 2 Foyer, Hong Kong Cultural Centre
The programme is approximately 20 minutes long.
Free admission with Carmen and More tickets.
| Champagne Partner | Make-Up Partner |
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DOWNLOAD PRESS PHOTOS
[Click on the photo to download full image]
Photo 1: Carmen promotional image | Dancer: Fei-fei Ye | Photographer: Noel Jones
Photo 2: Carmen promotional image | Dancer: Fei-fei Ye | Photographer: Noel Jones
Photo 3: Carmen promotional image | Dancer: Fei-fei Ye | Photographer: Noel Jones
Photo 4: Shape of Glow | Dancers (from left): Yao Jin, Shunsuke Arimizu, Yu-yao Liu | Photographer: Conrad Dy-Liacco
Photo 5: Petite Mort | Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre | Artists: Olivia Kelly and Ruslan Mukhambetkaliyev of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre | Photographer: Rich Sofranko
Photo 6: Sechs Tänze | Photo courtesy of The Norwegian National Ballet | Photographer: Erik Berg
Photo 7: Yuh Egami
Photo 8: Ricky Song-wei Hu
Photo 9: Jorma Elo | Photographer: Eric Antoniou
Photo 10: Jiří Kylián
About Hong Kong Ballet
An eclectic mix of talent, a balance of classical and contemporary works, and a unique repertoire are the trademarks of Hong Kong Ballet, Asia’s premier ballet company. Internationally recognised and acclaimed for its creativity, talent and artistry, the Company is committed to providing captivating experiences that delight and inspire audiences from all walks of life, both at home and abroad. Mr Septime Webre, former Artistic Director of The Washington Ballet, will join the Company as its new Artistic Director starting in July.
For further information, please contact:
Nick Chan
Director of Marketing
T: 2105 9716
M: 9728 1777
[email protected]
