Review | 2023 City Contemporary Dance Festival in Hong Kong off to a striking start with Stream of Dust, an innovative in-the-round production

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.)