On & On & Turn Turn Turn by Y-Space

Y-Space: 20 years of perpetual motion
Life is a marathon – you can only continue forward and learn to smile in between breaths…

So it’s been twenty years, Y-Space?
If you have never watched any Y-Space’s performance in the past 20 years…
If you have been watching Y-Space’s performances for the past 20 years…

Would you care to come and watch Y-Space’s 20^th anniversary production, On & On & Turn Turn Turn, a retrospective of its twenty years’ of work all in one go, and “turn” towards the future?

On & On & Turn Turn Turn
On & On & Turn Turn Turn is a dance theatre created to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of Y-Space.  It will offer a retrospective of Y-Space classics throughout its history, in one go, including its 1995 inaugural production None of Your Business, the 1996 Not a Double room, the 1997 Unconscious, the 1999 – 2000 Dance “In” Possible I, II, III, the 2000 – 2008 Air and Breath I & II, the 2010 Re/evolution, the 2005 – 2011 Body, ID &Space I – IV, Improvisation Land and the brand new 2015 production On & On & Turn Turn Turn.  This production will showcase Y-Space’s creative journey of twenty years through revising or creating new choreography for excerpts from these works, and incorporates video projections and installations.  Y-space invites you to join them in this star-studded 20-year dance gala, and witness the fruit of our work of two decades!

Choreographer, Director & Dancer: Victor Choi-wo MA
Choreographer, Producer & Dancer: Mandy Ming-yin YIM
Composer & Musician: Edmund LEUNG@The Interzone Collective, Les FONG, Hakgwai
Lighting Designer: FUNG Kwok-kee Gabriel
Set and Props Designer: TSANG Man-tung
Costume Designer: Carmen CHENG
Video Designer: Adrian YEUNG
Sound Designer: Him LAW
Production & Stage Manager: HO Mei-lin
Deputy Stage Manager: Candy LAU

Devising Dancers: Hugh CHO, Christine HE, Flora HON, LAM Po, LEI Yan, LIAN Guo-dong, Henry SHUM, KT YAU

On & On & Turn Turn Turn by Y-Space

Date & Time:
2.5.2015 (Sat)  8pm
3.5.2015 (Sun)  3pm

Venue: Auditorium, Kwai Tsing Theatre

Ticket Price: $200, $160, $120

with post-performance meet-the-artists sessions

Tickets are available NOW at all URBTIX outlets, on Internet, by mobile ticketing app and by Credit Card Telephone Booking.

Please purchase the standard ticket to enjoy the 20% off discount through Y-Space.

Programme Enquiries
2268 7323 (LCSD)
2470 0511 www.y-space.org (Y-Space)

Ticketing Enquiries
3761 6661

Credit Card Telephone Booking
2111 5999

Internet Booking
www.urbtix.hk

Victor Choi-wo MA (Hong Kong)

20 years ago, I founded Y-Space, and choreographed my first ever full-length dance. I was administrator, choreographer, stage manager, and also took care of props, wardrobe, graphic design and poster production.
After twenty years, I am still dancing, turning, and turning, dancing…

Founder of Y-Space in 1995 and its Artistic Director, Ma graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) School of Dance. Upon graduation, he joined the Hong Kong Ballet, and resumed study at HKAPA School of Drama. In 1996, he received the Asian Cultural Council Lee Hysan Foundation Fellowship to conduct research on dance and theatre in the USA. In 2002, he further received the Hong Kong Arts Development Council-University of Leeds-Chevening Scholarship for a Master’s degree programme in Performance Studies in the UK. As a choreographer with over 60 creations, he has also been a movement director for many local and international companies. His major works include None of Your Business, Not a Double Room, Unconscious I & II, Dance “in” Possible I-IV, Improvisation Land Series1-58, Air and Breath I & II, Suddenly and Body, I.D. & Space I-VI.…etc.

Mandy Ming-yin YIM (Hong Kong)

20 years ago, I founded Y-Space. For the first time in my life, I paid for myself a three-month long trip to Europe and used up all my saving in one go.
20 years later, I am now busy with administration and performances.

Co-founder of Y-Space, Mandy Yim graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts School of Dance. She was the Hong Kong Ballet and City Contemporary Dance Company dancer from 1988-1996. She was a recipient of the Asian Cultural Council Lee Hysan Foundation Fellowship in 1996 to do her dance research in the USA. In 2000, she has invited to create a site-specific work for the Harare International Festival of the Arts and to participate in the October Dance Festival in Bergen, Norway. In 2007, she involved in My Life as a Dancer – the Evolution for the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Mandy’s experience in teaching, performance and choreography has spanned four continents. She has been the producer of i-Dance(Hong Kong) since 2009. Yim is currently the Outreach and Education Director of Y-Space.

LEI Yan (Beijing)

20 years ago, I was in Hubei, where my home was, in grade 4 in primary school. I was nine years old.
Now 20 years later, I am based in Beijing.

LIAN Guo-dong (Beijing)

I came from Beijing. I studied literature. Now I dance.
20 years ago, I was 15, just went into senior high school. I was very skinny, and had not started to dance yet.

LIAN studied Chinese Literature at Capital Normal University. After graduated in 2002, he started to study contemporary dance at Beijing Modern Dance Company. He then joined Jinxing Dance Theatre in 2004 and Beijing Dance/LDTX in 2005. In 2006, he started to work with different artists and groups as freelance dancer, including Living Dance Studio, Paper Tiger Studio, Fan Theatre, Wang Jianwei, Tino Sehgal, etc. LIAN also joined “Beyond China” project of Emio Greco/PC in 2010 and received full scholarship of American Dance Festival in 2012. Since 2008, LIAN’s choreographies were performed in Beijing Cross Festival, Shanghai Fringe Festival, Beijing Modern Dance Festival and Guangdong Modern Dance Festival.

Christine HE (Germany/Hong Kong)

Things, people have changed. Passion and love will stay.
Me, always moving, always protecting
20 years ago, I was a naive and happy girl being protected.

Born in Germany, HE received her dance education (with a diploma in Contemporary Dance) in the “Ballett Akademie Nuremberg/Fuerth” (Germany) from 2004 to 2008. There she also discovered her passion for choreography. In 2007 she received the Talent Award of the City of Fuerth for Modern Dance. From 2008 to 2009 she was a member of “Modem Studio Atelier”, the youth department of the “Compagnia Zappalà Danza” in Catania (Italy). Christine moved to Hong Kong in September 2009. There she danced in various dance and drama productions for Dance Art, Y-Space, E-Side, Little Breath and for several independent choreographers. Now she is a freelance dancer, choreographer and teacher.

Henry SHUM (Hong Kong)

20 years ago I was in primary 1, I thought only girls would learn dancing.
Now twenty years later, I dance every day.

KT YAU (Hong Kong)

20 years ago I was three-and-a-half years old, and I wanted to be a ‘Y-Space dancer’ when I grow up.
Now my account balance comes to $93.7 only. But I stay on, here on the dancing stage.

A dancer who is passionate about dance and theatre works.

LAM Po (Hong Kong)

A man born under the zodiac sign of Taurus.
In 1995, I just joined the kitchen service.

Lam Po studied at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts since 1997. During his study at the Academy, he was awarded several scholarships, participated in the Tokyo International Dance Festival and performed with variety of dance groups. He was awarded a scholarship from the Asian Cultural Council to participate in the American Dance Festival in 2000 and joined City Contemporary Dance Company from 2001 to 2014. His choreography includes Self-obsession in CCDC’s 2003 programme All of A Sudden, Dialogue at the 7 Guangdong Modern Dance Festival, The moment I saw it in Hong Kong Dance Alliance’s Perfect Pair and Odd Couples and Reflections in CCDC’s 2011 programme Talk To Him. The Voice Inside in CCDC’s 2013 Programme It’s My Turn. Lam received 2012 Hong Kong Dance Award “Outstanding Independent Dance” and “Outstanding Performance by Male Dancer” for his performance in The Moment I Saw It. Now he is a freelance.

Flora HON (Hong Kong)

20 years ago, I was small and skinny. I was always the first one in line.
Now, who cares about how tall you are. All you need are good, strong knees.

Flora Hon started dancing when she was nine. Hon graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts Major in Modern Dance. In 2003, Hon was awarded the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund to further her study and gained her BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) at SUNY Purchase College, New York. Moving back to Hong Kong after graduation in 2008, Hon formed a dance group “Off the Ground” alongside Kelvin Lam and Jo Leung. The dance group then received the funding from Hong Kong Arts Development Council in the next year to produce their first full- length performance ‘Core Side Out’. In 2010 ‘Off the Ground’ was invited by Leisure and Cultural Services Department to participate in ‘New Force in Motion Series’, choreography name ‘Eternity is?’

Recently in July, 2014, Hon choreographed her new site-specific dance piece ‘In your shoes’ and received quite a lot of good reviews. In May 2011, Hon became the Director of Studiodanz Kowloon—one of the renowned dance studios in Hong Kong.

Hugh CHO (Hong Kong)

1995, I played football every day, totally carefree.
2015, I dance every day, and my body is aching all over.

Hugh started training of jazz and Hip-Hop in the year 2000. Graduated in The Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, majoring in contemporary dance in 2009.

Worked with Raewyn Hill & Dancers in the year 2009 to 2010, joined Unlock Dancing Plaza as Artist in Resident since 2010 until 2014. Joined the production of Tang Shu-Wing Theatre Studio 《Detention》 as acrobat in 2013.

Hugh also choreographed for different programs, such as《Hong Kong Dance Award 2011 》, festival in Singapore《Contact 2012》, 《Me & Myself》in《China Dance Forward》. Also choreographed for dance video《Eternal Sunshine》, being shown in 《Cane Film Festival Short Film Corner》in 2013.

Worked with street dance choreographer Nick Power, and created 《Compartmentalized》 for《Free Space Festival 2013》, also performed in Sydney in 2014. Choreographed 《Mr. Mok》for Unlock Dancing Plaza in 2014, and also choreographed 《Made in Hong Kong》in the same year. Choreographed 《Remain with Question》for 《Hong Kong Art Festival 2015》.

Hugh is now base in Hong Kong working as a freelance dancer, part time acrobat in Chinese Opera and choreographer.

None of Your Business   1995-2013

None of Your Business was Y-Space’s inaugural production in 1995, and was revived for the company’s 10th anniversary. It was a dance theatre production that also featured installation and video art. It explored the sense of unease in Hong Kong city life, specifically the mood of loneliness and feeling lost as 1997 approached.

“While communication technologies bloom, it has become harder to understand one another. The space for privacy shrinks, while distances between people grow. Sexuality becomes pervasive, but is it rooted in affection? Flesh, money, pleasure? Prejudices and violence reveal the dark side of modern life. People in a modern city … a pretence of harmony without warmth, of strength even as they are escaping, of mirth which returns to a sad, sad loneliness. An apocalypse is near. As 1997 approaches, what space is left for their loves, relationships, inner lives, and years of drifting sentiments… where will they arrive at?”

Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance

1995/6/8-10：
Fringe Studio, Fringe Club, Hong Kong

1995/6/10：
Fringe Studio, Fringe Club, Hong Kong

2005/10/5-8：
Fringe Studio, Fringe Club, Hong Kong

2013/3/7-8：
Cultural Activities Hall, Shatin Town Hall, Hong Kong

Not a Double Room   1995-2010

In 1995, while in Florence, Italy, Victor and Mandy overheard a couple next door embroiled in an altercation – all in Cantonese. What could induce this honeymooning couple to fight like this? Will the conflict in an enclosed space accentuate the contradictions in a relationship?

Family and communication was the main theme of this dance theatre production. Living in the same room does not necessarily mean sharing a life; so what does it mean to “live together”? What is that something beyond material pleasures? The scenic environment of Not a Double Room blended the lifelike with the imagined, the realistic with the abstract; real table and chairs stood amongst collages of toilet, sofa and other furniture. Text, spoken words, visuals, sound design, drama and dance elements created a room somewhere between reality and illusion. As the mundane details of the couple’s daily living accumulated, the slightest tension snapped the cord. But as they each packed their bags to escape, their fear of the outside – perhaps of reality itself – brought them back to the double room! Would tomorrow bring something new, or a repeat performance? The work was open-ended, guiding the viewer towards reflections on how to face oneself and each other with honesty.

Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance

1995/12/1-3：
Festival Now “Dance · New Wave”
McAulay Studio,Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong

1996/9/14-15：
Crown Theatre, Taipei, Taiwan

1997/8/9：
International Festival of Dance Academy: Dance On ‘97
Drama Theatre, HKAPA, Hong Kong

1997/8/26-27：
Munich Festival of Cultures ‘97 – Hong Kong
Muffathalle, Munich, Germany

1998/12/11：
98 Guangdong International Experimental Theater
Modern Arts Festival
Presented by Guangdong Modern Dance Company
Guangdong Modern Dance Company Theater,
Guangzhou, China

2010/3/3-7：
Not a Double Room 2010 – Revolve Stage Version
Auditorium, Yuen Long Theatre, Hong Kong

2010/3/25-26：
Not a Double Room 2010
(Arts Experience Scheme for Senior Secondary Students)
Cultural Activities Hall, Shatin Town Hall, Hong Kong

Unconscious I – Awakening   1997

A primal force in the soil had been asleep, suddenly awakened before 1997. With tremendous effort it climbed to its feet, surveyed its surroundings, and found the place unfamiliar. Fighting and hatred pervaded, it was no longer peaceful. This land, which had been home for billions of years, must now be abandoned, in search of a better place.

Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance

1997/2/22-23：
Tai Kong Po, Kam Tin (Yuen Long Plain), Hong Kong

Unconscious II – In Search of the Forgotten Senses 
(Outdoor)   1997

Spirits rose from the dust of the fields and entered the concrete jungle of the fast encroaching city. Here, they searched for remnants of love for the
land, some sense of belonging. Amidst the crowds of rushing, colliding city dwellers, they discovered that everyone is searching, and everyone is lost…

Unconscious II – In Search of the Forgotten Senses
(Theatre Performance)   1997-2012

Evolving from the primal life of the soil in Unconscious I to the city, humans stepped into the material world of fame, money, power and conflict. But they all returned to the soil. In that one last moment, it was
as if they had gained nothing in this life. Have we ever “lived”? We need to remind ourselves of the treasures that we have forgotten – the treasure of living in the moment meaningfully.

Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance

(Outdoor)
1997/4：
Lockhart Road, Footbridge in Wanchai, Hong Kong

1997/5/3：
Lion Rock Road, Kowloon City, Kowloon,Hong Kong
Nathan Road Park Lane (Shopper’s Boulevard),
Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

(Theatre Performance)
1997/5/15-17：
Shouson Theatre and outside the theatre, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong

2012/3/31:
Auditorium, Yuen Long Theatre, Hong Kong

Dance “In” Possible !?I   1999

This was an attempt to create a work with the simplest means. With minimal crew and resources, the work pushed the limits of the theatre space, and so stretched the limits of creativity, to find what is “in” the possible from the impossible. Abandoning the theatre’s technical support led to both creative freedom and practical constraints. Many props crept into the work: camping lights, television sets, headlamps and portable PA shared the space with human bodies and voices. The two performers handled all the tasks both on stage and off.

Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance

1999/05/7-9：
All Independent Series: Dance “In” Possible!?
McAulay Studio, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong

1999/11/15-16：
The K.A.C. Int’l exchange Modern Dance Festival
Dance “in” Possible!?
Kim’s Taejon City Contemporary Dance Company
Seoul & Taejon City, South Korea

Air and Breath I   2000-2008

In 2000, while others celebrated the millennium, Victor and Mandy’s homestead in Kam Tin, New Territories was torn down, the land reclaimed by the government. The next day, without a home, they performed Dance “In” Possible II – Dark Corner, followed by performances in Norway. While there, the Oktoberdans festival invited them to create a site-specific work. This work would later receive invitations to be performed in Dresden, Beijing and Poland, and also would be performed in Hong Kong.

Air and Breath I allowed for a direct conversation between breath, body and the city. Victor and Mandy were wrapped entirely in duvets and elastic cords. Their breath was the guide for rolling movements on the surfaces of the cityscape.

Air and Breath I is:
A life-like thing that breathes
An amorphous thing
A thing that is neither male nor female
A thing that has no distinct skin colour
A thing that does not know how to move according
to codes of urban human behaviour
A sculpture that moves
A….

Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance

2000/10/10-11：
Oktoberdans 2000
Bergen, Norway

2001/06/29,30
2001/07/2,3,5,7,8：
10th Tanzwoche dance festival – Wishful Thinking Project
Dresden, Germany

2005/05/1-3：
Dashanzi International Art Festival (2005)
798Dashanzi Art District, Beijing, China

2008/06/15 (5:00p.m.)：
Sai Yueng Choi Street pedestrian area, Mongkok, Hong Kong

2008/06/21：
Times Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

2008/07/08：
Market Square, Bytom, Poland

Air and Breath II – Phenomenon   2007-2008

In its 13th year, Y-Space received its first invitation by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department’s Cultural Presentations Section to create a stage work. Air and Breath II was created on this occasion.

Martial arts like Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong connect breath to spirit and to life … Breath is the source of life, but also of diseases … Breathing releases energy, and so creates movement, rhythm and music; breathing drives us to create dance.Breathing is where everything begins!

Most of the movement material for Air and Breath II was sourced from the breath, rather than from music or text. The music by Nelson Hiu was a spontaneous encounter with the movement, added only after the choreography was completed. Just as the breath cycles through four stages: inhalation, suspension, exhalation, relaxation … so the work was structured in four parts, interspersed with stories from each performer, on how breath generated personal, emotional, even environmental meanings. The fifth section combined themes from the previous sections in an improvisation centred on breath.

Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance

2007/07/27-29：
Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre Theatre, Hong Kong

2008/06/25-27：
Shatin Town Hall, Cultural Activities Hall, Hong Kong

2008/07/10：
Poland XV Annual International Contemporary Dance
Conference and Performance Festival 2008
Silesian Dance Theatre, BytomCultural Centre, Bytom, Poland

RE/evolution   2010

For Y-Space’s 15th anniversary, Artistic Director Victor Ma invited Jacek Luminski to collaborate on RE/evolution. Luminski is the Artistic Director of Silesian Dance Theatre (SDT), Poland’s first contemporary dance company. The roots of this collaboration was formed during Y-Space’s performances and exchange in Poland in 2008. RE/evolution had its world premiere in Hong Kong, and toured to Poland for the 17th Annual International Contemporary Dance Conference & Performance Festival in July 2010.

As multimedia dance theatre, RE/evolution made use of different theatrical languages to address apressing issue in today’s world – the clashes and the
fusion of tradition and technology.

Technology evolves, needs are met, fuelling more desires. Have our lives become more comfortable, or more hectic?

We live longer – due to our dependence on drugs and machines, or from increased control over our own lives?

How can cultural traditions be preserved as technology develops – can they co-exist? How to find the balance?

Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance

2010/05/15-16：
Y-Space 15th Anniversary Programme
HK/ Poland Multimedia Dance Theatre
Auditorium, Kwai Tsing Theatre, Hong Kong

2010/07/02：
Poland XVII Annual International Contemporary Dance
Conference & Performance Festival 2010
Power Plant, Bytom, Poland

Body, I.D. & Space IV   2011

The twists and turns in our lives take us round and round in space. We are taking in things all the time. And so our body expands, our identities change … We are searching all the time. The real, the fake, the pure and flawless: whatever we pursue at this very moment becomes the past in the blink of an eye. Things melt away; time does not stay. Life is but a process in the end … So we can only seize the moment.

At the core of Body, I.D. & Space IV is the creative exploration of the body, its movements and experiences in the theatre and the objective space, combined with live music, dance and video projection. Bodies and identities clash within the space, sparking off meanings. Together, we explore the mysteries of living.

Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance

2011/07/23-24：
Multi-Media Theatre and Creative Promenade, HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity

Body, I.D. Space V   2013

The human body is a magical cosmos, and Life is a wonderfully compelling journey.

But mankind have been treating their bodies and their lives in myriad different ways:

Some created miracles to cure the body, while others twisted other people’s bodies in the name of tradition, or for their own gain.  Some touched our hearts with their efforts to extend Life, even if it meant only by a minute or a second, while others had totally no respect for Life, trampling all over the lives of others and manipulating them for political gain.

The body is by itself a vehicle for soul and a means to perpetuate living, but it has become a battlefield where a revolution is on the verge of breaking out.

Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance

2013/02/01-03：
Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences