RECREATION, SPORTS AND THE ARTS
Prokovsky and Petal Miller respectively; and the revivals of La Fille Mal Gardée and the ever-popular Nutcracker.
The company also staged modern works in local and overseas performances and its international reputation was further enhanced through the participation of many of the dancers in international competitions held in Luxembourg and Japan. The company participated in the ballet competition in Shanghai as well as in the First Chinese Ballet Festival in Beijing. Locally, the ballet performed at Government House. The company's annual choreographic workshop in 1995 drew participants from Hong Kong and overseas. Throughout the year, the company's outreach educational unit visited schools and the general community to introduce dance and its appreciation in order to make dance a more accessible art form for everybody in Hong Kong.
Exploration Theatre
Active promotion of local original works has been a goal of the Exploration Theatre since its establishment in 1982. The four major productions staged last year were all original plays: The Gap, The Opening Night, D J In My Life, and It's Hard to Say. The company will continue its efforts to develop local original plays in order to provide more opportunities for local playwrights.
On the educational and community front, the company took its original work Close To My Heart, Fighters of Crystal Valley, together with other items from its repertoire, to schools, community halls and other public venues in about 100 free performances. The company performed Close To My Heart at Government House and organised various workshops and talks for young people and schools to further the expansion of Theatre-in-Education.
Hong Kong Sinfonietta
The Hong Kong Sinfonietta presented six concerts, 22 Education Concerts, six Open Foyer performances and 18 accompaniment performances during the year. The Education Concerts attracted more than 20 000 students, providing them with an introduction to orchestral music.
The Sinfonietta co-operated with the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra on four occasions, performing five concerts in Fushan, Guangzhou, Chungshan and Hong Kong. These included the Hong Kong Oratorio Society Concert to mark the 50th Anniversary of the end of World War II.
Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
The year marked the academy's 10th anniversary. Its spectacular building on the Wan Chai waterfront opened in September 1985 and the academy enrolled its first students into the four Schools of Dance, Drama, Music and Technical Arts that month.
The academy has developed rapidly as a unique institution in Hong Kong for training and education in the performing and related technical arts. Starting with three- to four-year diploma and certificate level programmes, the academy attained degree-granting status in 1992 after a successful institutional review by the Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation. It introduced three-year Bachelor of Fine Arts programmes in dance and music the same year. Degree programmes in drama
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