2023 City Contemporary Dance Festival in Hong Kong off to a striking start with Stream of Dust, an i

Stream of Dust, the latest work created by choreographer Sang Jijia, opened the 2023 City Contemporary Dance Festival in Hong Kong on an unusually grand scale.

A cast of 44 included more than 30 graduating students from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (APA) alongside professional dancers from the City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC). An admirably well orchestrated production, Stream of Dust brings something fresh and exciting to the Hong Kong dance scene.

The show, which features thousands of black ping-pong balls, is being performed at Freespace, the West Kowloon Cultural District’s black box theatre, which has established itself as a partner for both local and overseas contemporary dance companies.

Sang, CCDC’s resident choreographer, and scenographer Leo Cheung have devised a striking, in-the-round setting for Stream of Dust which uses the entire space inside the venue’s biggest hall, The Box.

A kind of thick black rope is used to border a huge circle within which the dancers move, with innumerable ping-pong balls underfoot. More ping-pong balls keep dropping into a large net suspended above the centre of the stage area, around which the audience is ranged.

Audience members are expected to stand for the one-hour show, although a few seats are provided; many people simply sat on the floor. (It seems that Sang’s idea was to have audience members walking around to get a variety of perspectives – in practice few people did this and I don’t think it would add much as a spectator, since the action keeps moving to different parts of the stage in any case.)

The work is at its most impressive at moments where the dancers move en masse. I particularly like a section where they all lie down, then get up, in waves, as well as a stunning tableau near the end where they cram themselves together in contorted poses to form a single living sculpture.

These big group sequences have considerable power, especially when you are on a level with the performers and so close to them. They alternate with smaller scale scenes – solos, duets and so forth – which, while well enough done, are less exceptional.

There is plenty of ingenuity in the use of the mass of ping-pong balls – although it’s far from new as a gimmick in contemporary dance – especially towards the end where the border rope is manoeuvred to sweep the balls (and the dancers) into dramatic configurations around the stage.

The piece is performed by the whole cast with tremendous feeling, energy and discipline – it was impossible to tell which were the students and which the professional dancers; it must be said that CCDC’s current ensemble are themselves mostly young.

Much credit goes to them all and to rehearsal mistresses Li Yong-jing and Shirley Lok, as well as to Sang himself.

Dickson Dee’s electronic score and Charfi Hung’s attractively casual costumes work well. Lawmanray’s lighting creates atmospherically glowing, misty effects in a range of colours, enhanced by the dust of the title, which is constantly pumped into the air – clouds of dust, rather than a stream.

Unfortunately, the dust does get into the eyes and lungs – a mask may come in handy – and while it is not bad enough to be a problem for a one-time viewing, I do feel some concern about the dancers experiencing it for a total of nine shows.

“Stream of Dust”, City Contemporary Dance Festival, The Box, Freespace, West Kowloon Cultural District. Reviewed: Nov. 11. Performances continue on Nov. 14-17. Tickets from Urbtix or CCDC’s website.

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