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festivals. The Fringe Club also produces its own theatrical performances, art exhibitions and site-specific works with a Hong Kong heritage theme. Over the past two decades, more than 400 arts groups from Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America have used its venues for cultural exchange activities.

The Fringe Club's 2005 CityFringe Festival put the spotlight on Seoul. The event is an urban culture festival, featuring local as well as international artists from a wide range of disciplines.

Performing Arts Groups

Chung Ying Theatre

Chung Ying Theatre Company was established in 1979. Its mission is to nurture artistic excellence through the development of new plays, theatre-in-education projects and training of theatre practitioners. In 2005, the company introduced a number of works to the audience, including two by local playwrights: One of the Lucky Ones (Step I & Step II), adapted from memoirs of the first blind person to receive The Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award and The School and I, a true story about a village school 10 years ago. The company continued school touring project, Forum Theatre (Moral Truth for 4R), during the year. The project was funded by the Education and Manpower Bureau's (EMB's) Quality Education Fund.

City Contemporary Dance Company

The City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC) was established in 1979. It is a professional dance company that nurtures the best talent to create dance in the context of modern China. In 2005, the company's productions included a new work, Colour Fugue, by its resident choreographer, Helen Lai. The company was invited to perform in the Festival of China at John F Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington DC and also performed at the Hunter College in New York. The CCDC Dance Centre offered a great variety of dance courses to the public, and developed new audiences through its outreach programmes. The centre received the Hong Kong Dance Alliance Dance Award 2005 for its outstanding contribution to Hong Kong dance development.

Hong Kong Ballet

Asia.

Hong Kong Ballet is one of the leading professional classical ballet companies in

In 2005, the company was invited to perform its original work, Legend of the Great Archer, at Beijing's Poly Theatre and Turandot and The Last Emperor at the Santander International Festival in Spain.

Hong Kong Ballet presents a broad-based repertoire that includes classical ballets as well as original productions. In 2005, the company produced two new works: Spartacus, a ballet set in ancient Rome, choreographed by Irek Mukhamedov, the former Principal Dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet and Royal Ballet and Madama Butterfly, choreographed by Australian Natalie Weir.