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Natasha Rogai

Iron and Silk

City Contemporary Dance Company

City Hall Theatre

Reviewed: March 31

Iron and Silk comprises two new  pieces from  local choreographers: Movements and Shadows, by Helen Lai,  and Lights Up, by Jacky Yu. Both  revolve around light and shadow, and are well contrasted under the label 'vulnerability meets invincibility'.

In Lai's piece, inspired by the writings  of modern Chinese poet Beidao, solos expressing fragility and isolation are performed to wistful phrases of piano  and violin music, or in silence.

The dancers, dressed in flimsy white, move in a dreamlike fashion - even  when another person enters their space,  they're unable to make meaningful  contact.  A girl dances  with her  shadow;  a man brushes aside the woman who tries to reach him to return to his mothlike obsession with light.

Structurally, this weakens the piece, because the lack of interaction becomes monotonous.  Outstanding moments include an impassioned solo  by Xing  Liang,  and a playful passage  in which  a man recites a fragmented poem while playing with a mirror. Impeccably performed by Dominic Wong, this   shows Lai's choreography at its witty,  inventive best.

In Lights Up, the dancers are dressed  in black, harsh lights glare out into the audience, and the accompaniment is driving electronic music.

The piece makes extensive use of a   metal rack with lights.  The dancers balance on it, climb through it, roll under it and  take it apart.

The concept  is  clever, and Yu is to  be commended for  trying something  so ambitious.  But the technical aspects  overwhelm the dance, and the set trans-formations weren't  smooth. The choreography starts strongly,  but becomes repetitive.

The costumes and sets for both pieces are well-designed by  Ewing Chan and  Silvio  Chan, and Jo Phoa's lighting for Movements and Shadlows was excellent.



Iron and Silk