Five Circles festival, mounted by Chinatown Arts Space (CAS) and supported by Spectrum Radio 558AM, is a series of five groundbreaking contemporary exchange events in rap music, film and music, contemporary dance and visual public arts throughout 2008 that follows on from the success of the previous The Circle festival at the Linbury Studio Theatre at the Royal Opera House in February 2007.

Five Circles ‘08 draws its inspiration from the Olympics logo with its five interlocking circles, symbolising international co-operation and competition. Collaborative, innovative and unique, Five Circles presents the best in contemporary Chinese performance.

Circle one: The Five Circles festival opens in February at the Linbury Studio Theatre at the Royal Opera House. CAS, in partnership with ROH2 at the Royal Opera House, presents a bi-lingual performance from Mandarin rapping Dragon Tongue Squad from Beijing. Dragon Tongue Squad is the best Hip-Hop crew in China, formed by three of the best Mandarin MCs - long time historic Beijing clubber and living poet Crazy Chef, hip-hop peace advocate Kirby Lee and national freestyle battle champion J-Fever (aka Lil Tiger).

They will be performing in collaboration with London born Kevin Quan (aka DJ Phat), a highly regarded scratch hip hop DJ who has created a unique musical partnership with Suki Mok on Spanish guitar. blaZian, an exciting young Black and East Asian hip-hop dance crew (UK) will kick off the evening. Westminster City Council has specially commissioned a series of creative workshops by Dragon Tongue Squad and British Chinese artists for local people to take part in.

Venue: Linbury Studio Theatre at the Royal Opera House
Date: Thurs 21st & Fri 22nd February 08
Tickets £12 Adults, £5 Standing, £8 Students & ROH Access List

ROH Box Office 020 7304 4000 (open 10am-8pm, Mon-Sat)
Online Booking: www.roh.org.uk
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Bow Street, London WC2E 9DD (Nearest tube: Covent Garden)

Circle two: In April, also at the Linbury, British Chinese musicians Chi2 (sisters Liz and Sarah Liew), Jiang Li and Kimho Ip (UK) will accompany a special screening of award-winning classic Chinese film Song of the Fishermen (1934). This is a unique first time cross-arts collaboration commissioned by CAS, in partnership with ROH2 at the Royal Opera House to marry the heritage of a classic silent movie from China with the contemporary interpretative vibrancy of British East Asian musicianship.

Dubbed ‘double violin assault specialists’ Chi2, sisters Liz and Sarah Liew, fuse electronic beats and effects with melodies and improvisations on both electric and Chinese violins and keyboards, layered with angelic vocals and harsh percussion. Chi2 have toured with Moby, Anastacia, Lamb and have played/recorded with diverse artists such as Boy George, The Orb/KLF project, Nelly Furtado, Goldfrapp, Lamb, Barry Adamson, Cyndi Lauper and Uriah Heep.

Jiang Li is a composer of traditional Chinese and contemporary music, a promoter and also an audio engineer. In 2003, Li received a NESTA Fellowship and since then he as developed a global musical network for young people to collaborate on musical projects around the world. Kimho Ip is an internationally renowned composer and cellist whose work explores ideas of interculturalism in music. Kimho Ip brings his experience of composing a new original score for the Chinese silent movie, The Goddess, for Cinema China 2007 (co-presented by Edinburgh Filmhouse and University of Edinburgh and staged live at Edinburgh Filmhouse).

Venue: Linbury Studio Theatre at the Royal Opera House
Date: Fri 18th April 08
Tickets £12 Adults, £5 Standing, £8 Students & ROH Access List

ROH Box Office 020 7304 4000 (open 10am-8pm, Mon-Sat)
Online Booking www.roh.org.uk
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Bow Street, London WC2E 9DD (Nearest tube: Covent Garden)

Circle three: In June, CAS is working in partnership with Sadler’s Wells to mount a two-week choreographic workshop residency between internationally-renowned visiting choreographer/dancer Liu Qi, Deputy Artistic Director of Guangdong Modern Dance Co, and Union Dance’s British Vietnamese choreographer/dancer Anh Ngoc Nguyen. The residency will culminate in a sharing of their work over two nights at the Lilian Baylis Theatre, when Liu Qi and Anh will be joined by another dancer from Union Dance, Maggie Kwan.

While Liu Qi speaks only Mandarin and Anh Ngoc Nguyen speaks both English and Vietnamese, the essential language of choreographers/dancers is the body, so this intercultural exchange aims to reveal the fascinating, subtle differences and similarities between two contemporary East Asian choreographers/dancers, operating in different parts of the world.

Venue: Lilian Baylis Theatre at Sadler’s Wells
Date: Fri 13th & Sat 14th June 08
Tickets £12, £10 Concessions (£2.20 transaction charge/£1.50 online/No charge in person)

Circle four: CAS, working in partnership with Shaftesbury PLC, will commission two new public art commissions for London’s Chinatown. The first Mural Commission is for Horse & Dolphin Yard in Chinatown. A UK-wide competition has been launched to find the best British East Asian design for a semi-permanent contemporary work. The winner will be announced in May 2008, and CAS plans to officially unveil the artwork on 6 August 2008, just before the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

Seminar, masterclass, and workshops to be announced on www.chinatownartsspace.com

Circle five: The second is a three-dimensional Sculpture Commission for Wardour Street at the junction with Shaftesbury Avenue, marking one entrance to London’s vibrant Chinatown. An international competition has been launched to find the best East Asian design for a permanent contemporary sculpture. The winner will be announced in July 2008 and CAS plans to unveil the sculpture in February 2009, soon after Chinese New Year. Both commissions need to address the heritage, history, and architectural aspects of London's Chinatown, and also celebrate the current East Asian diversity and dynamism of the area.

Full entry details for the two public art commissions can be downloaded from www.chinatownartsspace.com. For further information, please contact Parker Harris: + 44 (0) 1372 462 190 or cas@parkerharris.co.uk. Deadline for entries: 3 March 2008.

Seminar and masterclass to be announced on www.chinatownartsspace.com

For More Information: www.chinatownartsspace.com

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 12th, 2008 at 10:51 am and is filed under Education, Movies, Music, Radio Programmes 電台節目, Community News 社區消息, Spectrum Radio Events 電台活動, News 時事, Community Events 社區活動. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.