Arts review: Don Quixote defies storm and injury as whole cast dazzles with electrifying energy

Hong Kong Ballet’s new season opened with a baptism of fire (or rather flood) for new artistic director Septime Webre courtesy of Severe Tropical Storm Pakhar.

For the first time since 2008, on Sunday a No 8 signal coincided with a company production, in this case Don Quixote. Luckily the warning was downgraded just in time for the matinee to go ahead, albeit at 4.45pm instead of 2.30pm, giving the dancers barely one hour’s break before going back on stage for the 7.30pm performance.

This is “the show must go on” with a vengeance and huge credit goes not only to those on stage but all the company’s staff for making it happen with typically Hong Kong resilience and determination.

This is the first rerun of Nina Ananiashvili’s lively 2014 staging of Don Quixote – good as it was then, it was even better this time: sharp, vivid and tight, with electrifying energy from the whole ensemble.

While the company’s technical standards have long been high, in recent years it’s sometimes felt as if there was too much emphasis on technique and it was refreshing to see the dancers performing with more freedom and connecting more strongly with the audience.