Pair of water-driven dance shows add splashes of symbolism and spectacle to New Vision Arts Festival
- The Japanese production Rain adapts a classic short story about people at odds with each other, with choreography by Ryu Suzuki, a set by artist Shinji Ohmaki and music by Evala
- Ink sees two dancers face off on a water-soaked stage, with Greek choreographer Dimitris Papaioannou also taking on a performing role in his introspective piece
Water is a contradictory element. It is the source of life, yet it is capable of destroying lives. We cannot survive without it, but it can also make us uncomfortable.
This year’s New Vision Arts Festival in Hong Kong, organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, will see water play a central role in two different dance shows.
The Japanese production Rain is co-produced by Aichi Prefectural Art Theater and Dance Base Yokohama (DaBY). It was created when Hiromitsu Katsumi, managing director of DaBY, and Eri Karatsu, executive producer of Aichi Prefectural Art Theater and DaBY’s artistic director, approached choreographer Ryu Suzuki with the idea of adapting a classic short story of the same title into a dance performance about human relationships.
The story Rain by British writer W. Somerset Maugham, originally published in 1921, is told from the perspective of Dr Macphail, whose travels by sea have taken him to an island in the South Pacific. There, a measles outbreak requires him to quarantine alongside two missionaries, Mr and Mrs Davidson, as well as a prostitute, Miss Thompson.
The situation is made worse by torrential rain that keeps everyone confined in one house. Meanwhile, Miss Thompson is never alone, with her ongoing sexual escapades overheard by Mr Davidson. He becomes determined to make her see the error of her ways, but this seemingly well-meaning effort eventually brings about a fatal result.
“I think the rain is used in this story as a metaphor of this indirect force that surrounds us,” Suzuki says. “Dance is one of those methods very effective at dealing with obscure subjects such as this.”
