| Chinatown Arts Festival 2007: The Circle |
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| Culture | |
| Wednesday, 07 February 2007 | |
 Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House,Covent Garden, Bow Street, London WC2E 9DD 16th - 18th February 2007 Chinatown Arts Space (CAS) (http://www.chinatownartsspace.com/) is proud to present our second annual Chinatown Arts Festival, in partnership with the Linbury Studio Theatre at the Royal Opera House. Featuring the best of British East Asian Dance, Theatre and Music, this three day festival celebrates the East Asian idea of ‘The Circle’ uniting contemporary and traditional artforms, East and West, Yin and Yang, with performances and workshops from established and exciting new companies. LINBURY STUDIO THEATRE performances, 7.30pm Friday 16 February (dance)
(minimum age 5 yrs) Friday 16 February 1.45 - 2.45pm Chinese Ribbon Dancing with Maggie Kwan 3.15 - 4.15pm Japanese Ogres & Other Monsters with A Thousand Cranes Theatre 4.45 - 5.45pm Chinese Paper Cutting with Zong Mei Xia Saturday 17 February 1.30 - 3.30pm Chinese Face Painting with London Jing Kun Opera Assoc. 4.00 - 5.30pm Japanese Origami Fun with Kumiko Mendl Sunday 18 February 1.30 - 2.30pm Chinese Music Melodies with Cheng Yu 3.00 - 4.00pm Create Andersen’s magical The Nightingale with Yellow Earth Theatre 4.30 - 5.30pm Chinese Paper Cutting with Zong Mei Xia In April and May 2007 more East Asian Cultural Workshops will take place in community centres and libraries across the City of Westminster. BOOKING INFORMATION Performances: £10 adult, £5 child, £8 students & ROH2 access list Family workshops: £3 ROH2 Box Office: (020) 7304 4000 www.roh.org.uk Supported by ROH2 Funded by Westminster City Council & National Lottery through Arts Council England Sponsored by Shaftesbury PLC DANCE Red, Fire of Hope and Cham’s Soul by New Orient Red, by Hong Kong and UK trained choreographer Cody Choi, is contemporary dance using Hong Kong 1960s culture as well as aspects of modern, urban life, set to a variety of music, ranging from 1960s Chinese opera, to sound tracks of popular 1950s Hong Kong films to Western Latin music and modern pop songs. Fire of Hope, by China-born, Hong Kong raised and London based choreographer Sin-Man Yue, combines modern dance language to depict the unique rhythms and movements reflecting the moods and passion of the Miao people from Yunnan Province in southern China. Cham’s Soul, by ballet trained Vietnamese choreographer Anh Ngoc Nguyen, draws the inspiration from ancient Vietnamese Champa’s Sculpture and attempts to reveal its strength, beauty, and mysticism as well as bring out its spirit and live within which contrasts itself as a still object. Jie-Qing Festival 2007 by Taipei Folk Dance Theatre Jie-Qing Festival 2007 is performed by internationally acclaimed visiting Taipei Folk Dance Theatre and presented by Step Out Arts. The performance includes five folk dances showcasing varied dances from the heritage of the island’s colourful ethnic aboriginal tribes, influenced by Chinese traditional dance. THEATRE A Dream of Butterfly by TiAT Moo / Myung Hee Han An object theatre piece, integrating elements like site specific, audience integration, ritual, and installation arts, by Korean performing group TiAT Moo, whose artistic director is Myung Hee Han. Inspired by the famous Chinese story of ChanZu Dream of Butterfly, this performance explores the liminal space between life and death, illusion and reality with a very personal but also social association. The performance is just made of paper and transforms constantly with audience participating in the changes. Bie Yao: Parting at the Klim by London Jing Kun Opera Association A Chinese ‘jing kun’ style opera excerpt with newly edited script and music writing, and modified music accompaniment. It tells the story of a prime minister’s daughter - Wang Baochuan, and her pauper turned general husband - Xue Pinggui. This opera excerpt conveys the rich symbolism of this traditional art form: black and white costumes and straight and round/semi-circular movements, as well as the concept of ‘the circle’: yin and yang, female and male, the part and the whole, separation and reunion. Peace Pagoda (Act One) by Andy Cheung and Philippe Cherbonnier This is a 40 minute preview of the first act of Andy’s newly written theatrical piece with music and songs, inspired by a Japanese true story which follows the universal search for inner peace. Andy attempts to transform Linbury’s stage into a surreal park with miniature cherry blossoms and spring bulbs in bloom around a central focal point, Battersea Park, where the peace pagoda is built. MUSIC String Circles by Silk String Quartet Silk String Quart comprises four virtuoso Chinese musicians who perform both traditional and modern music with traditional instruments: Cheng Yu [pipa (4-stringed lute)], Sun Zhuo [quzheng (21-stringed zither)], Qiu Zenghui [erhu (2-stringed violin)], and Zhou Yinyan [yangqin (hammered dulcimer)]. The Quartet will perform a diverse range of traditional and contemporary repertoires which include new compositions by composers from both East and West such as Mo Fan (China), Minoro Miki (Japan), and Basil Athanasiadis (Europe) with guest erhu master Men Hui-Fen from Shanghai and a London based Chinese wind-instrument player. Big Yellow Big Yellow is a contemporary pop/rock 4-piece band consists of Nick, Cyril, Ben, and Jeremy. Jeremy hails from New Zealand, whilst Nick, Cyril, and Ben are all of Chinese descent. The bands performance is characterised by Jeremy’s jazz-influenced drumming, Nick’s rhythmic bass playing, Ben’s alarmingly catchy Keyboards, and Cyril’s manically intense guitar playing. They will play a 30 minute set, with 8-9 songs that are all original compositions. Kazuko Hohki / Frank Chickens Kazuko Hohki is a versatile artist. She is an artist, singer, musician, animator, director, performer, storyteller, writer, and film maker. She has won a Total Theatre Award and Herald Angel Award at the 2005 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Kazuko will give a lively and communicative performance of singing, dancing, and rapid costume change with idiosyncratic pop songs. For more information, see http://www.chinatownartsspace.com/projects_thecircle.html. |
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