City Contemporary Dance Company's latest work offers three new pieces, two created by company dancers and one by guest choreographer Anh Ngoc Nguyen.
Born in Vietnam, Nguyen completed his studies at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and has established an international reputation as a dancer and choreographer, notably in his other adopted home, Britain.
His piece, (pictured right), opens with a witty duet for Adam and a serpentine Eve in the Garden of Eden, complete with apple, then goes on to explore humankind's primitive origins and relationship with nature. The choreography is accomplished and well-crafted, although it doesn't match the originality and power of the similarly themed created for the company two years ago by Justyne Li Sze-yeung and Wong Tan-ki.
There is a memorable part of when a huge sheet of fabric is unfurled over the stage and the audience. It is gathered into a zeppelin-like shape or stretched overhead like a canopy. Images projected on it depict the formation of our planet, the rise of the primates and ultimately the cities of today. The effect is thrilling and a brilliant use of the small Studio Theatre space, the images coming so close that the audience could reach up and touch them. Exceptional work by Nguyen and the design team of Charfi Hung, Low Shee Hoe and Adrian Yeung.
