SPOTLIGHT: A Season of Performing Arts 2025
Eyes on Hong Kong, mind on the world — Tai Kwun's SPOTLIGHT : A Season of Performing Arts has always advocated for interdisciplinary collaborations, where artists break free from conceptions of space and form to explore new possibilities in the performing arts. As the previous commissions gradually make their way onto the international stage, the season carries on the mission of commissioning new works, defying conventional performance formats and delving into subject matters that are close to every one of us.
In the 5th edition of the Season, interdisciplinary collaboration and talent development continue to be the major focuses. Juxtaposing the idea of physical and virtual spaces, Fragile! Human Inside will open the season leading audience into a visual and audio sphere where virtual and reality become fluid. An electrifying face-off of contemporary dance and rap music challenging the idea of genres, all the way from Japan, will be staged in ARIKA. The Season is dedicated to supporting the up-and-coming artists to shine on stage, Infinite Extension, a dance triple-bill will witness the growth of three promising young choreographers in their own voice. Tai Kwun's unwavering effort in breaking down conventions can be seen in Fugue of Two Shores, the finale of the site-specific theatrical trilogy that spanned across four years.
Programmes
04-10.04.2025 ( Fri-Thu ) Fragile! Human Inside【Installation x Moving Images x Sound】
04-05.04.2025 ( Fri-Sat ) ARIKA【Contemporary Dance x Rap】
11-13.04.2025 ( Fri-Sun ) Infinite Extension【Contemporary Dance x Exploration】
25.04-17.05.2025 ( Fri-Sat ) Fugue of Two Shores【History x Environmental Theatre】
Past Programme
09-17.11.2024 ( Sat-Sun ) Dormitory Town ( re-run ) 【Environmental Theatre】
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About SPOTLIGHT: A Season of Performing Arts
Tai Kwun has been dedicated to nurturing performing arts talents in Hong Kong since its opening in 2018. Through commissioning, interdisciplinary and site-specific works were developed to respond to Tai Kwun’s unique background and environment, embodying the story and identity of Hong Kong in the language of theatre, dance, music and more.
The Season is also a platform to foster international collaboration and exchange between Hong Kong and overseas artists. Outstanding international productions are adapted to Tai Kwun and Hong Kong’s context and presented in joint efforts with local artists, creating cultural and artistic synergy.
Accolades of Tai Kwun commissioned works
The Message Behind The Wall by 198491 (2018 Dance Season)
2019 Hong Kong Dance Awards – “Outstanding Small Venue Production”
Diary VII • The Story Of...... (2021 SPOTLIGHT: A Season of Performing Arts)
2022 Hong Kong Dance Awards - “Outstanding Choreography” and “Outstanding Small Venue Production”
The Inner Études (2021 SPOTLIGHT: A Season of Performing Arts)
2022 Golden Pin Design Award – “Mark Winner, Integration Design”
Since When (2023 SPOTLIGHT: A Season of Performing Arts)
2023 CASH Golden Sail Music Awards – “Best Serious Composition”
"ARIKA"【SPOTLIGHT: A Season of Performing Arts 2025】
"ARIKA" ( Whereabouts ): A pursuit of Contemporary Dance, Rap and Words
One may think contemporary dance and rap would have little in common, but Shimaji Yasutake and Tamaki ROY prove otherwise. Breaking down the boundaries of traditional art forms, the two Japanese artists, prominent in their own fields, join forces to pioneer a new style of live performance in the acclaimed ARIKA which will make its Asian debut outside Japan after performances in both Japan and France.
Shimaji, a dancer with the world-renowned Forsythe Company for nine years, has a background in ballet, hip-hop dance and karate. Tamaki ROY, his collaborator, is adept at atmospheric arrangements with rapped and sung verses. The cerebral depth of his work set him apart in Japan's music scene.
For this atypical and poetic collaboration, the two artists question the origins of dance and music through a series of improvisations. Finding common ground through the word ARIKA ( whereabouts ), the two artists explore the origin of dance, rhythm and words. Which one of the three first appeared in the world? As humans evolve, did they emerge simultaneously?
With these imaginations and musings, the duo lead the audience in search of the origins of dance and music in a primitive world where improvised movements, sounds, voices and rhythms intertwine. Shimaji's virtuoso dance, both fluid and well-paced, gliding harmoniously over the soothing flow of Tamaki ROY, who also lends his body language to the hip-hop performance.
Full of moments of subtle tensions and infinite sparks, the two artists collide, transforming and displacing each other, and engage in a clash between the best of different genres.
"Fragile! Human Inside"【SPOTLIGHT: A Season of Performing Arts 2025】
In contrast to a building, the human body is evidently fragile, but the inner resilience and energy within a person may be far more steadfast than brick walls. As the building and the human body come together, not only does it create a contrast of physical strength, it also generates a chemical interaction of space, time, and the body. Living in the contemporary nomadic era, carton boxes do not only contain our daily objects but also tools of production and even human desires. While human mobility is enhanced, how do we live in the absurdity and desolation of the present world?
With this in mind, the innovative and award-winning media artist GayBird created Fragile! Human Inside, a performance that combines sound, visual and performance art. The audience wander around different spaces of Tai Kwun, immersing themselves in a multidisciplinary exploration integrating installation, moving images, and sound with live music performances. Playing centre stage are carton boxes which are visually connected to bricks, the foundational building material of Tai Kwun, creating a tension between fragility and stability. Carton box installations, resembling building blocks, reassemble and disassemble the human body and organs to present new possibilities. Is the body the only constant home? Can virtual spaces become the new form of home, being mere presence and a state of mind?
Audience enters a unique multi-sensory experience, exploring the boundaries between the physical and virtual worlds through video projections, immersed in a dreamlike and expansive performance. As the latest work by GayBird who gained critical acclaim as composer and sound artist, Fragile! Human Inside is a sensory feast featuring an impactful of sound beyond the realm of expected imagination.
"Infinite Extension"【SPOTLIGHT: A Season of Performing Arts 2025】
Infinite Extension features dance works by three young choreographers from Hong Kong and Guangzhou—Keung Hoi-ling, Fu Binjing, and Paula Wong—offering an experiential contemporary dance theatre experience. Tai Kwun's F Hall is transformed into a personal space, prompting viewers to reflect on their bodies and spatial perception from various angles. The choreographers use movements to explore the multifaceted meaning of "space" through live performances, participatory presentations, and stage installations.
The choreographers revisit their histories and memories in dance, revealing the tension between individual and dance while re-examining technique, aesthetics, and self-composition. They summon desires and imagination through body-space interactions, navigating the boundaries between consciousness and movement systems.
Keung Hoi-ling's I Saw a Ping-Pong. I Crushed It. It Was an Egg. redefines the relationship between individual and system using language, imagery, and bodily movements. She traverses between analysis and stream of consciousness that intertwines thoughts with the body. Fu Binjing's Neverland presents an imaginative realm, reflecting on standardised bodies using artificial materials and waste to connect the body with the external world while questioning "beauty," "standardization," and "meaning." Paula Wong's Come Closer, go deeper! explores the female bodily experience and gaze through body postures, inviting the audience to feel the resulting pain, pleasure, tension, and ease with the postures’ flow and shift carrying the gaze of the audience.
Just like the pursuit of infinite outward extension in dance training, the choreographers connect their thoughts to the spaces within and outside the body, transcending the boundaries of the physical form and resonating in space.
I saw a Ping-Pong. I Crushed it. It was an Egg.
Choreographer: Keung Hoi-ling
I resonate deeply with a line from "The Perceptual Body":
Creation is giving a body to concepts.
If I were to give my consciousness a body for 30 minutes,
I am aware of my existence; you are aware of your existence—what would that look like?
Come closer, go deeper!
Choreographer: Paula Wong
Come closer, go deeper!
Caress the limits of boundaries,
Let the flexibility of the body become the remedy for liberation,
Embrace every inch of pain,
Teetering between love and pain,
We breathe together.
Neverland
Choreographer: Fu Binjing
"…Everyone yearns for a paradise of happiness, a land that creates beautiful dreams..."
This is a paradise of reality and virtuality.
Here, perfection and splendor exist.
Here, intimacy and companionship thrive.
Here, the present and the future coexist.
In this place, one can forget all worries,
And possess infinite joy and strength.
This place never stops, always open for you!
"Fugue of Two Shores"【SPOTLIGHT: A Season of Performing Arts 2025】
Following The Inner Études ( 2021 ) which drew inspiration from the history of granites in Hong Kong and The Sublime Progressions ( 2023 ) themed around migration and diaspora, the arts group Vividly unveils Fugue of Two Shores, the third and final chapter of a trilogy of immersive theatre.
Set sail! We shall embark on a journey back in the Age of Exploration. You will venture and arrive at a city named Macao. There, the Western colonists unloaded their collection of exotic plants and spices collected from their voyages. In the lingering light, a city called Hong Kong was slowly in the making. The seedlings are transplanted from Macao to Hong Kong with both engulfed by the sea. They quickly took root and flourished into a lush and vibrant garden. Initially just a random piece to complete the master plan for cities in the West, the city came into fruition of its own.
Delving into the antiquated past, Tai Kwun becomes the backdrop of two cities with intertwined destinies as told by four wanderers. The audiences will be guided on a journey across time and space in Tai Kwun via a multi-dimensional realm in which lighting, soundscapes, projections, and performances intersect. In a spellbinding tale woven by legends and history as well as fiction and reality, the site-specific theatre offers audiences the chance to witness how the intricate web of life reveals itself and to reconnect with the city by navigating into its past and present.