2004 Hong Kong Arts Festival Piazza Party

January 14th, 2004

The 32nd Hong Kong Arts Festival will officially raise the curtain on 5 February 2004, with a special opening ceremony and an extravaganza of free open air performances on the harbour front promenade at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre – The 2004 Hong Kong Arts Festival Piazza Party. Three distinguished companies from Australia bring in smashing performances of aerial dancing, stilting walking and giant puppets. With live bands, a percussion ensemble and steaming hot music, this spectacular event will take over the Cultural Centre Piazza on the evenings of 5, 6, 7 and 8 February 2004. The 2004 Hong Kong Arts Festival Piazza Party is sponsored by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.

Douglas Gautier, Executive Director of the Hong Kong Arts Festival said, "the Hong Kong Arts Festival is probably the longest running and most well known performing arts event in our city. To give it some extra profile this year and to invite everyone to join in the celebration, we have decided this year to throw a Piazza Party outside the Cultural Centre on the first four nights of the Festival. This promises to be great entertainment for all the family and we welcome everyone - free of charge. Our Piazza Party reflects the nature of Hong Kong and is truly an international affair, with over 100 performers from Hong Kong and around the region. At the heart of the party are three great outdoor acts from Australia - which have featured in the openings of Cultural and Sporting events all over the world. These acts are, Strange Fruit, Stalker and Snuff Puppets - which have to be seen to be believed. We look forward to seeing you at our Party. Come and enjoy the celebrations with us."

Snuff Puppets present The Cows & The Boom FamilySnuff Puppets are a giant puppet company based in Melbourne, Australia. They combine the elements of puppetry, live music, visual and physical theatre to create a unique and idiosyncratic performance language; engineering puppet and audience collisions to leave both parties breathless.The Cows & The Boom FamilyMum, Dad, Grandpa and two kids of the The Boom Family are out and about searching for the same kind of fun as everybody else. Towering over the crowds at four meters tall, they are immediately recognizable icons in the landscape Joining them is a life size herd of cows on the rampage, grazing on pot plants, eating people's hats and nuzzling children. They are going where no real cows would dare.

Strange Fruit presents The SpheresStrange Fruit is an Australian company that produces and performs works for the streets and the great outdoors using 4-metre high flexible poles. Over the past 6 years it has achieved a reputation throughout the world for its unique performances that combine dance, circus and spectacle in a highly accessible and entertaining way. The company has performed for over 220 international festivals and events in more than 30 countries in Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America and Australasia.The SpheresSeven giant luminous orbs tilting harmoniously to atmospheric music, The Spheres is a beautiful performance that has wowed over one million people since its inception. It takes a whimsical look at physics, the miracle of birth and humanity's existential relationship to our planet. In the centre stands The Child, an innocent eye which beholds the baffling, comic encounters of the surrounding characters – The Evil Queen, The Sleeping Man, The Clown, The Princess, The Huntress and The Lover.

Stalker Theatre Company presents Fast GroundStalker Theatre Company is a visual and physical performance company, producing image-based, often site specific works and collaborations. Since its inception, Stalker's explorations into explosive physical theatre and interdisciplinary processes have placed them at the leading edge of Australia contemporary performance practice.Fast GroundA dynamic combination of stilt dancing, acrobatics and ground-shaking music, Fast Ground is no ordinary stilt show. This amazing performance is characterized by colourful costumes, powerful percussive music and physically dramatic movements, with stilt figures taking on an air of other-worldliness and creating a surreal and captivating spectacle.

Live MusicLocal bands Azucar Latina and AfroCuba with guests Guy Le Claire on guitar and Angelita Li on vocals will perform their steaming-hot Latin and African music. A 70-piece percussion ensemble with members from Island Sun Drum and Chinese Foundation Secondary School will drum up a sensational audio feast for partygoers.

2004 Hong Kong Arts Festival Piazza Party5 Feb (Thu) 6:00 – 7:45pm6 (Fri), 7 (Sat), 8 (Sun) Feb 5:30 – 7:30pmHong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza (next to Star Ferry, Tsim Sha Tsui)Sponsored by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department

Member of the press could visitwww.hk.artsfestival.org/press/index.htmto download photos and images of The Piazza Party.

For further enquiries, please contact Mr Andy Yau, Assistant Marketing Manager, attel: 2824 3555.

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