Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival 2023

EVENT DESCRIPTION

A devotee of dance ever since its foundation, Van Cleef & Arpels has been an active custodian and proponent of modern dance since the artistic bond between Claude Arpels and renowned choreographer George Balanchine inspired the first ever full-length abstract ballet Jewels (1967). Continuing and strengthening this artistic commitment, Van Cleef & Arpels launched Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels in 2020. This initiative opened a new chapter in which the Maison’s ties with the world of dance have become global in scale and ambition. 

 Guided by the values of creation, transmission and education, Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels aims to support artists and institutions that specialise in modern and contemporary choreographic repertoire, while encouraging new productions. The ongoing support for choreographic creation and presentation of dance performances around the world is complemented each year by major events, including an annual dance festival. After a first edition in London in 2022, the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival is presented in Hong Kong this year in collaboration with the French May Arts Festival. 

Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels is committed to showcasing dance as a powerful field of human expression that embraces individualism through movement, and that can be connected with at a purely emotional level. Defined by the attitude of accessibility central to the whole initiative the agenda setting programme for Hong Kong has been curated for the broadest possible audience. Developed in collaboration with leading exponents of contemporary dance from across the world, nine performances ranging from cutting-edge original pieces and leading repertory productions will be presented between Friday, 5 and Sunday, May 21, at both prestigious institutional stages and public spaces around the city. 

At Freespace, a performance centre located in the heart of the West Kowloon Cultural District, artist Gisèle Vienne will present Crowd, a bewitching work that draws as much inspiration from music and cinema as it does from dance. Ola Maciejewska, with two shows born from her research into Loïe Fuller’s Serpentine Dance (1892), will invite the audience to consider the history of the discipline. Alessandro Sciarroni turns his attention to the question of repertoire through a traditional dance from the Bologna region in Italy, which is further explored in an open choreographic workshop. Meanwhile, Christian Rizzo will present two projects: a production from his repertoire, Sakınan göze çöp batar, performed by Turkish dancer Kerem Gelebek in an evening program shared with Greek choreographer Katerina Andreou, and a three-week creation workshop at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts involving eight local dancers. With Passages and Fragments by Noé Soulier and Les Traceurs by Rachid Ouramdane, dance will occupy the urban landscape, opening up a dialogue with the city of Hong Kong and its imposing architecture. This event will also offer Noé Soulier and Alessandro Sciarroni the chance to lead initiation workshops.

Presented in partnership with French May Arts Festival 

Locations: M+, Freespace, Great Lawn Artpark WKCD, PMQ, Sheung Wan Civic Centre, Kwai Tsing Theatre and The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts

For more, you can find the details of all nine performances below:

Crowd by Gisèle Vienne

Passages by Noé Soulier

Fragments by Noé Soulier (film screening)

Bombyx Mori by Ola Maciejewska

Loïe Fuller: Research by Ola Maciejewska

Save the Last Dance for Me by Alessandro Sciarroni

BSTRD by Katerina Andreou

Sakinan Göze Çöp Batar (An Over-Protected Eye Always Gets Sand in It) by Christian Rizzo

Les Traceurs by Rachid Ouramdane