Community & Charities
Arts, Culture and Heritage
Jockey Club continues its four-decade support to Hong Kong Arts Festival
28/02/2017
Audiences at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre were treated with a visual feast on 16 February, as the Bayerisches Staatsballett from Germany performed the timeless and ravishing ballet La Bayadère that opened the 2017 Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF).
The HKAF is a major international arts festival committed to enriching the cultural life of the city. The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust has been a partner of this highly-regarded event for 45 years.
The opening show was part of the popular Hong Kong Jockey Club Series, which also features an exclusive Asian premiere of The Makropulos Case performed by National Theatre Brno from the Czech Republic; and Vasily Petrenko and the Oslo Philharmonic from Norway.
To mark the 45th staging of the festival, the Trust has additionally this year funded Danz Up 2.0 and Super Pool, two special programmes being co-presented with the HKAF. The former is a reprise of the highly-acclaimed artistic urban dance musical staged last year; while the latter is an innovative outdoor light installation that fuses visual art and interactive technology to allow people to dance in harmony with dazzling lights.
Other exciting performances and associated events include:
Jockey Club Local Creative Talents Series - Hong Kong Odyssey, a specially-commissioned performance that illustrates the historical development of Hong Kong and its culture over the past 100 years through poetry, music and song. Related outreach activities, including workshops and talks, are expected to attract 5,600 people.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club Contemporary Dance Series, which promotes local talent by featuring local young dancers and choreographers and their innovative dance works. Under this series for 2017 will be ‘Dance off, Will you still love me tomorrow? Hong Kong Remix’ and Cecilia’s Rhapsody. As part of this programme, the Club is also supporting educational and outreach activities that allow students to learn more about contemporary dance.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club Student Matinee Programme enables about 3,200 students to enjoy free special performances of Kosmos and O Balcão de Amor by Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal from Canada. To enhance their appreciation of the programmes, the students also learn about ballet technique and theatre etiquette. As in previous years, the Club is funding a transport subsidy scheme to help students from remote districts to enjoy these programmes.
More details of all these events are available at www.hk.artsfestival.org/en.
