Tag Archives: dance

Swan Lake On Ice by The Imperial Ice Stars @ Hong Kong Cultural Centre review

Posted on May 2, 2016 | Leave a comment

If you’ve ever found ballet a little bit (whisper it) boring, then have I got the show for you – Swan Lake On Ice.

Yep, if the average pointe work on solid ground never struck you as being quite challenging enough, the introduction of frozen water and blades about 4mm in thickness should do the trick nicely!

Joking aside, The Imperial Ice Stars’ production of Swan Lake On Ice is exactly the kind of show that the word “spectacle” was invented for. Taking Tchaikovsky’s original much-loved score and transferring the action to an ice rink is a move bound to outrage more than a few ballet purists – but when Odette (Olga Sharutenko) actually takes flight during the swooningly romantic dance between her and Prince Siegfried (Bogdan Berezenko), it feels like something straight out of a fairy tale.

Continue reading →

Tap Dogs @ Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts review

Posted on May 22, 2014 | Leave a comment

Call it a childhood spent watching far too many MGM musicals, but the sound of tap dancing does something strange to me inside. No, not that kind of strange (get your minds out the gutter, people!), but there’s just something somehow stirring about the pitter-patter of tap shoes that I just can’t get enough of.

Well, there are pitter-patters in abundance at Tap Dogs, the award-winning show by Australian choreographer Dein Perry, which has been going strong for 20 years and has now arrived at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. Except forget “pitter-patters” and think more “bloody massive stomps”, because this is tap dancing with the testosterone factor.

Continue reading →

Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour by Cirque du Soleil at AsiaWorld-Expo review

Posted on September 1, 2013 | 2 comments

Everyone loves a bit of Michael Jackson, right? The question is – do you love him quite enough to sit through two hours of Cirque du Soleil flinging themselves around to his records?

Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour rolled into Hong Kong’s AsiaWorld-Expo last week – and the overriding feeling was of watching a concert where the star performer had gone AWOL. Talented backing singers, a bombastic live band, acrobatic teams of dancers and spectacular production values… Cirque du Soleil brought it all (save an actual narrative – no surprise there then), yet none of it could disguise the gaping charisma vacuum at the centre of the show.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Culture, Music, Theatre

Tagged Cirque du Soleil, dance, Michael Jackson Cirque du Soleil show, Michael Jackson: Immortal, Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour, review, theatre

Detention @ Hong Kong Arts Centre review

Posted on August 7, 2013 | Leave a comment

One of the things that has fallen by the wayside since my move to Hong Kong are my trips to the theatre. Back in the UK, I would probably go see a show at least once a month – now I’m lucky if it’s more than once a year! Joining a list that includes Magnums, fish and chips and grass, it probably is one of the things I miss the most about my life in England; for me, there’s no beating that magical feel of live theatre done right and sharing that experience with a captive audience.

I’ll save the debate over Hong Kong’s perceived lack of culture for some other time (however, if Annie does come here again, I will cry) but often, I’ll read about what sounds like a really interesting production… only to then see the words ‘In Cantonese’. Boo. So when I read about Detention, a homegrown original production enjoying its fourth run in Hong Kong (which had also done a successful stint at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival), and saw the magical words ‘non-verbal’, I was in there like a flash!

Continue reading →