Two distinct matters, shaped by lives across cultures. This double bill turns to the essentials that define us — the body and the mind — as Chen Wukang from Taiwan and Bruce Wong, now journeying in the UK, each reveal their subtle tension in overlap and shift. As we hurry from place to place, what remains when we finally stop is often the most difficult to ignore: the body’s stored memories and weight, and the mind’s ceaseless drift between clarity and unrest.
Two Matters
Restory
Choreography: CHEN Wu-kang
Dramaturgy: TANG Fu Kuen
Nowhere to Land
Choreography: Bruce WONG
Set and Lighting Design: Lawmanray
Costume Design: Cheryl CHING
Sound Design: LEUNG Po-wing#
Rehearsal Mistress: Shirley LOK
#With support and kind permission of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
Performance:
AN Tzu-huan
CHEN Dai-wen
CHEN Jia-wen
Jon Henri FERRER
GAO Sheng-ting
Suyi HON
HUANG Teng-seng
JIANG Xu-ling
Stephanie LI
SHUM Pui-yung
Alliah Xandra TORTE
YANG Yu
Skye YAO
Rehearsal Photography
Eric HONG
MAK Cheong-wai
Carmen SO
Performance Photography
Eric HONG
Carmen SO
Rehearsal and Performance Videography
La Vene Studio
Graphic Design
Pengguin
Restory
Taking “rest” as its pivot, Restory re‑maps the coordinates between body and history.
Bypassing sentimental embellishment, it looks directly at the body in its raw state:
the wrestling of limbs, the drift of movement, the layering and shifting of weight.
Drawing on classic Cantopop songs as its starting point, familiar tones seep into the body and awaken deeply buried collective memories.
Between each breath, traces of movement and stillness come into view.
Choreography: CHEN Wu-kang
Choreographer Interview
Video by La Vene Studio
Nowhere to Land
A lucid struggle unfolds between order and imbalance.
There is no point of landing – only a continual cycle of collapse and re‑formation.
Thoughts, ceaselessly arising and vanishing, drift and heave in mid‑air.
Formless, imageless, colourless – and yet, always in flux.
In the midst of extreme chaos, how do we find proof that clarity still exists?
Choreography: Bruce Wong
Choreographer Interview
Video by La Vene Studio
Nowhere to Land Stage Photo
Restory Stage Photo
Photos by Eric HONG and Carmen SO
Audience Feedback
The most refreshing and pleasant pieces in recent seasons, energetic and enchating with zeitgeist touching to the present!
The dancers appeared in dazzling colors, each with their own combinations. At times they formed a single line, then dissolved into vertical streams moving downward. At other moments, most lay flat to create layered blocks, contrasted against the lone figure still standing. Pairs scattered across the stage, while two alone crawled low along the central path from back to front. Every shift unfolded like paint flowing across a black canvas.
Light and shadow deepened the contrasts—brightness grew more vivid, darkness more profound—so that each image carried a shared weight. Yet it was the choreographer’s command of movement and visual force that gave the work its unmistakable “Chen Wu‑kang” power: the hardness of diamond transformed into the suppleness of silk.
（Translated from Chinese originals）
Beginning from the idea of “rest”—a concept furthest from Hong Kong—the work rebuilds and reimagines “Hong Kong” through Cantonese pop songs, massage, and shifting scenes. Images, language, popular culture, human connections—what feels most “Hong Kong”? What defines “Hong Kong”?
Through structured improvisation, a group of vibrant, distinctive dancers dissect and reassemble Hong Kong culture, generating new energy until the whole stage seems to breathe. It is a rare work.
Few pieces could bring together three phrases at once: warmly political , freshly energetic, unreally fun Restory is precisely such a creation.
（Translated from Chinese originals）
Both works weave choreography full of playfulness and narrative hints, together creating an “in‑between” everyday reality. Suspension does not mean pause, and rest is more than stillness. Through varied bodily gestures, the dancers step into the world—uncovering connections with people, with place, with the era, and with time itself.
（Translated from Chinese originals）
