Herbie Hancock, dance from Wayne McGregor in Hong Kong arts hub’s 2024/25 season

Grace Kelly (not the one you are thinking of), RubberBand, and Herbie Hancock are among the big names performing at West Kowloon arts hub

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Thai dance artist Kornkarn Rungsawang will present his work “Mali Bucha: Dance Offering” during WestK’s 2024/25 performing arts season, but what else is going on? Photo: Bernie Ng

Published: 6:15pm, 7 Aug 2024Updated: 1:25pm, 9 Aug 2024

Jazz musician Herbie Hancock, choreographer Wayne McGregor, saxophonist Grace Kelly (no, not the late actress), Cantopop band RubberBand and a Hong Kong version of musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch – these are just a few must-sees among the 50-plus programmes in the sixth annual performing arts season at the West Kowloon Cultural District, now rebranded WestK, in Hong Kong.

The arts hub’s much publicised cash crunch – it has struggled to attract interest from property developers – has not diminished the scale of its offerings, says Paul Tam, executive director of WestK’s performing arts division.

“The line-up is the most ambitious to date for the performing arts division,” he says.

Launching the season is this week’s “Yellow Magic Orchestra Reimagined”. At 8pm on August 9 and 10, a collective of Hong Kong-based musicians will reconstruct the legendary sounds of the Japanese electropop ensemble Yellow Magic Orchestra, a group co-founded by the late Ryuichi Sakamoto, at Freespace.

On August 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25, Hong Kong group On & On Theatre Workshop and WestK are co-presenting a play called With Love, Medea’s Boys, which explores the world of the afterlife from the perspectives of the sons of Greek mythological character Medea and unfolds like a dark fairy tale.