Freespace Dance 2023

EVENT DESCRIPTION

A month-long programme of cutting-edge dance celebrating visionary women choreographers from around the world.

The four-week inaugural edition of the new dance festival Freespace Dance celebrates the boundary-breaking work of women in dance-making. Showcasing work by artists of different generations and cultures, and spotlighting the inspired inventiveness and versatility of contemporary choreography, the works offer fresh perspectives on gender, power relations and politics, and new insight on creativity and imagination in dance and movement.

The festival opens with the Asian premiere of She Legend – a work by Hamburg duo Lisa Rykena and Carolin Jüngst that explores the queer potential of the comic superhero universe. Celebrated local choreographer Mui Cheuk-yin’s new workDouble Happiness: The Promise of Red explores the meaning of commitment through traditional wedding rituals.

It’s going to get worse and worse and worse, my friend by Voetvolk / Lisbeth Gruwez and Maarten Van Cauwenberghe from Belgium, is a compelling exploration of the manipulative power of speech and gesture. Living Room by renowned Israeli choreographer Inbal Pinto, showing as the Asian premiere, is a captivating, whimsical piece about the unpredictability of our everyday lives. And Crowd by French-Austrian choreographer Gisèle Vienne, closes the festival with a slow-motion dance through the hedonistic ecstasy and darkness of a night-time teenage rave.

Alongside the performances, the festival also includes two artist-led workshops, with Lisa Rykena and Carolin Jüngst sharing insight on choreographic storytelling, and Lisbeth Gruwez leading a professional session on improvisation and technical skills. In addition, Lisa Rykena and Carolin Jüngst also present a sharing session on using audio description and accessibility services as creative tools.

To aid accessibility and enhance the audience experience, selected events offer audio description and touch tours. An original pre-show participatory physical introduction session on related choreographic concepts and movements is tailored for all programmes at The Box.

The festival also includes the new creation platform FIRST, an informal space where invited dance artists Blue Ka-wing, Justyne Li, Alice Ma, Ivy Tsui, Wong Pik-kei and KT Yau discuss, share and develop new ideas for potential dance work projects.

To nurture young dance critics, we are also collaborating with the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC) to co-present a Dance Appreciation and Criticism Writing Workshop (in Chinese only).