ENG-1989 — Page 375

RECREATION AND THE ARTS

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In September, the company visited the Cultural Centre of the Philippines where it performed Winterreise, Spotlight, and Insomnia.

Another full-length dance production, Wanderings in the Cosmos by Willy Tsao, followed in the grand opening of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in November.

The company has continued to organise a wide range of educational dance programmes including performances in colleges, secondary and primary schools, and dance workshops, lectures and classes. Its own dance school, housed at its headquarters in Wong Tai Sin, continued to attract many dance enthusiasts as students. Meanwhile, the company's City Contemporary Theatre continued as a significant centre for experimental theatre and dance productions.

Altogether, the main company and the dance education unit gave 150 performances during the year, including 105 school shows, at venues ranging from the Lyric Theatre of the Academy for the Performing Arts to community centres and school halls.

Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts

The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, offering professional training in the disciplines of dance, drama, music and technical arts, held its third graduation in June for 107 graduates. The Governor, who is President of the academy, conducted the ceremony.

Probably the largest of its kind in South-east Asia, the annual International Festival of Dance Academies and its associated International Dance Conference was held for the - fourth time from July 17 to 21. This year, over 200 student dancers from Manila, New York, Rome, Sumatra, Taipei and Hong Kong were invited to participate in master classes in the daytime and give performances in the evenings at the academy. Another major presentation by the School of Dance was the 89 Graduation Concert at which the dance graduates were presented in each style of concertation: ballet, Chinese dance and modern dance.

The School of Drama had another prolific year with a total of seven productions, all presented in Cantonese. They included Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones, William Shakespeare's The Tempest, Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues, Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, Joe Orton's What the Butler Saw, Peter Shaffer's Equus and Dale Wasserman's Man of La Mancha. The historical range of the plays gave students the experience of performing in works from Elizabethan to modern times.

In April, the School of Music presented its first Cantonese opera Noye's Fludde by Benjamin Britten. A series of nine summer evening concerts known as The Young Professional Musicians Platform was organised to encourage and foster the talents of current and past academy students and to provide a public performing platform for the most-talented local musicians.

The staff and students of the School of Technical Arts provide the technical support to all academy productions. Areas include theatre design, costume making, scenery construc- tion, property making, lighting and sound. Together with the Department of Television, the school offers a thorough training programme of technical arts that is unique in Asia.

The academy had a total of 381 full-time students, 218 part-time students and 303 junior students for the academic year 1989–90.

Music Office

The Music Office has played an active and important role in providing instrumental music training and promoting interest in music among young people in Hong Kong.

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