Starting in 1998, Y-Space has initiated a series of jamming sessions named Improvisation Land. It provides a platform for diverse artists to meet in an improvisatory, cross-disciplinary manner, allowing chance encounters to stir up imagination and inspiration. So far, 27 series of Improvisation Land with 39 performances have been created, each unrepeated.
Improvisation Land gathers artists from around the world, in dance, movement, drama, installation art, music, lighting design and visual art. Artists interact spontaneously, uncovering aesthetic intuitions that might have been restrained by structured rehearsal methods. Unpredictability brings risks, but also pleasant surprises, and opens up a challenging, compelling space where one can really be alive.
Improvisation Land I – OH ! That’s It
“They meet because they dance! They dance because they meet!”
US modern dance artist, Ralph Lemon, met Victor Ma & Mandy Yim in physical conversation, along with Kung Chi Shing, a Hong Kong composer noted for using improvisation and pioneering new music. Sparks flew as US modern dance met HK contemporary dance and music, in a unique improvised performance that could not be repeated. This was the first performance of the Improvisation Land series.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
1998/09/11:
Studio Theatre, Fringe Club, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land II – Live Project 1, 2, 3
A programme spread over three evenings, with different participants in different venues. From theatre to bar to rooftop, performers led the audiences through multiple media and conceptual spaces. Music, video, installation, movement, dance, site and audience were brought together afresh between the structured themes and the unplanned performances.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
1999/10/15, 16 & 19:
Le Cremeria Theatre, Nokia Gallery/Bar, & roof top, Fringe Club, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land III – Ball
The 5th Seoul Fringe Festival
Victor and Mandy were invited to the 5th Seoul Fringe Festival. One of the activities was an improvisation with local artists. Since the 2002 World Cup was being staged in Seoul, they chose the theme “Ball” for the improv jam.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2002/05/28:
Theatre Zero, Seoul, South Korea
Improvisation Land IV – Open
Y-Space was invited to Kolkata, India to participate in the Interface Arts Festival, including the performance of an improvisation. On seeing the enormous venue, they decided to start in the audience, and when they reached the stage, the performance ended.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2004/03/13:
Kalamandir, Kolkata, India
Improvisation Land V – Balance
With the establishment of Theatre Y, the first public performance hosted in this new venue was an improvisation. Top Hong Kong Frame Drumming expert John Lee was invited to participate.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2004/05/29:
Theatre Y, Y-Space, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land VI – Telephone
Audience members were invited to hand over their mobile phones and numbers. The phones were hung above the performance space, and crew members dialed their numbers at random. The ringtones became the music from which dance improvisations flowed.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2004/06/26:
Theatre Y, Y-Space, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land VII – Reflection
Y-Space invited dance artist Wilson Chik to collaborate on an improvisation that brought together dance, movement and butoh.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2004/11/6:
Theatre Y, Y-Space, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land VIII – Dowda Happening
Dowda is a well-known local soy sauce plant in Kwu Tung, Sheung Shui. The event coincided with the first public consultation on the West Kowloon Cultural District development. It represented a vibrant, local arts scene, in an event that was not steered by imperatives of property development. The event transformed the factory into many mobile performance spaces, galleries, stages and concert halls. Site-specific performances, installations and performance art formed a cross-disciplinary collage. Y-Space contributed two site-specific improvisations, The Tao of Soy and What a Big Canopy!
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2005/01/22:
Dowda Soy Sauce, Sheung Shui, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land IX – 10th Anniversary
Victor and Mandy performed at the 10th anniversary celebration of Y-Space.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2005/07/31:
Theatre Y, Y-Space, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land X – 10
The 10th Improvisation Land used “ten” as a theme, during the 10th year of Y-Space’s establishment. Improvisation Land XI – Dancing Night A coming together of Victor, Mandy, Canadian actor Morgan Gadd, and members of the Y-Space II (2005) company, in an improvised performance.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2005/09/3:
Theatre Y, Y-Space, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land XI – Dancing Night
A coming together of Victor, Mandy, Canadian actor Morgan Gadd, and members of the Y-Space II (2005) company, in an improvised performance.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2005/11/15:
Theatre Y, Y-Space, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land XII – (+/-)
The Taoist concept of yin and yang was examined within the improvisation. Through a variety of media, artists and audience members witnessed a search for balance between opposites, reaching for a performance state that goes with the flow …
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2006/03/12:
Theatre Y, Y-Space, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land XIII – Gecko in Sandals
Free Sound Improvisation !
Free Body Expression !
Dada Haiku Lounge !
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2006/04/08 & 9:
Theatre Y, Y-Space, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land XIV – Inward Journey
SPECULATION, SPLIT, SANCTUM, SHEKINAH
This series consisted of four sessions over four weeks in October 2006, each improvising around a theme, with music, installation, dance, movement, video and poetry.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2006/10/07, 14,21 & 28:
Theatre Y, Y-Space, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land XV – Classical Vs Modern
East meets West! A performance that combined modern dance with classical Indian dance. The first half featured Indian dance master Astad Deboo in a solo performance. In the second half, Deboo and Hong Kong artists collaborated in an improvised performance.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2006/12/06:
Theatre Y, Y-Space, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land XVI – Let’s Dance
A major event at the 35th Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2007, My Life as a Dancer – the Evolution, featured 16 leading Hong Kong dance artists. As an appetizer, Y-Space invited the artists to gather at Theatre Y for a once-off improv.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2007/02/25:
Theatre Y, Y-Space, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land XVII – 171107 . Sarah Kane
Sarah Kane (1971-1999) was one of the most important contemporary playwrights in the UK. Her “In-Yer-Face” plays evince a courage to face down hell on earth. The shocking beauty in Kane’s drama, 4.48 Psychosis, guided an international and crossdisciplinary gathering of artists, whose improvised performance surrounded the audience seated centre stage.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2007/11/17:
Theatre Y, Y-Space, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land XVIII – 4.1.08 “Music Free Walk” (Improvised Music & Text)
Music Free Walk was a night of free music and text improvisation, with artists from San Francisco, Hawaii, and well regarded local artists in theatre, music and dance. Bill Hsu (US) created extraordinary sound on his computer; famous Hong Kong actor Lee Chun-Chow improvised with text; US-born Nelson Hiu picked up his bass guitar; famous local band leader Edmund Leung was on drum & electronic guitar; and composer Wilson Tsang played his most favored instrument, the acoustic piano.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2008/01/4:
Theatre Y, Y-Space, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land XIX – Percussion Night
A large-scale improv with the most creative, fun and talented percussionists from Hong Kong and overseas, with jazz drum, djembe drum, electronic drum, frame drum, Chinese drum and found objects.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2008/09/27:
Theatre Y, Y-Space, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land XX – Text
The twentieth Improvisation Land brought together dance, music, visual and installation art, drama and movement under the overarching theme of text: not mere traces of ink colouring the page, but text that whips up the wind and spans distances like the ocean.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2009/08/29:
Theatre Y, Y-Space, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land XXI (1-6)
(as part of i-Dance 2009)
Performers from around the world gathered at the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre for the i-Dance festival. Beside their solo performances, they interacted with local and international artists for six improv jams.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2009/11/27-29 12/2-4:
Black Box Theatre, JCCAC,Hong Kong
Improvisation Land XXII – i-Dance Gala
(as part of i-Dance 2009)
More than 30 local and overseas performers and artists at the i-Dance festival gathered in a large scale improv jam.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2009/12/05:
Black Box Theatre, JCCAC, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land XXIII (Outdoor)
(as part of i-Dance 2009)
Performers at i-Dance 2009 moved from the black box theatre to the outdoors. At the Nam Chung wetland, artists and viewers enjoyed an improv in natural surroundings under the sun, and a feast of organic food.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2009/12/06:
Nam Chung Wetland, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land XXIV – Meeting
(5th Anniversary of the OCT Contemporary Art Terminal in Shenzhen)
Y-Space was invited to perform on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the OCT Contemporary Art Terminal in Shenzhen.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2010/01/09:
OCAT, Shenzhen, China
Improvisation Land XXV – Inside Out, Outside In …
Bamboo garden + glass wall + theatre complex + light & sound + audience interaction = Inside Out, Outside In …
Y-Space presented its first improv at Yuen Long Theatre, using its bamboo garden as performance site. Audience members could choose to view from inside the bamboo garden or through the glass wall. The scene changed as the perspective changed – leaving it up to the viewer’s decision.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2010/10/02 &3:
Bamboo Garden, Yuen Long Theatre,Hong Kong
Improvisation Land XXVI – Ghost Party
Ghost Party was an improvisation that combined performance, video and interactive media, featuring top artists from Japan, USA and Hong Kong.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2010/10/23:
Theatre Y, Y-Space, Hong Kong
Improvisation Land XXVII – Contact
(Hong Kong Dance Festival Opening Gala)
This performance was presented at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Hong Kong Dance Festival. Victor and Mandy moved with wireless camcorders attached, and the spaces and images between the interacting bodies were projected live on the screen. Between bodies in contact, and between live music and dance, sensations and movements were sparked and ignited.
Date (Y/M/D) & Venue of Performance
2010/11/25:
Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Hong Kong