Review-The Beat of China- West Kowloon Bamboo Theatre
10-2-13
By: Meaghan McGurgan
Last night I went to The Beat of China, which was part of the West Kowloon Bamboo Theatre. I was excited to see this show as I thought the Bamboo Theatre was impressive in itself as a structure. Seeing a show inside the theatre was going to be a lot of fun. Chinese Dance is also the perfect thing to start off the Year of the Snake, (in my opinion).
The Beat of China was presented in partnership with the Hong Kong Dance Company. The performance was free which was very cool. I like it when companies do free showcases for the public and obviously so do a lot of other people. The place was absolutely packed with people of all ages and cultures.
Overall, I thought the show was fun and a nice idea. It was an assembling of 5 smaller pieces into roughly 60 minutes of dance. There was no program for tonight’s presentation as it was free. Sadly I don’t know the names of any of the songs played or the performers because of this. I do think it would have been nice to have a program or an order for the show for the audience’s referral but I completely understand why it wasn’t there as no admission was charged.
I thought the opening number was the strongest one of the showcase. It was very exciting and the music was captivating. The dancers were perfectly in sync. I also enjoyed the use of live drumming in some of the numbers. Live music makes a show much more impressive. The dancers had big smiles on their faces during the opening number. They were happy to be there and it made the audience equally happy.
Some of the smaller, slower numbers weren’t as exciting to watch. 30 minutes in, the show dragged a bit. Some of the transitions were a bit slow as well. The finale was solid though and brought back the energy and excitement of the first piece. Pacing was the only weakness of last night's production. Overall, it was an excellent showcase and FREE! You can’t beat that price tag. I’ll most definitely be going back to the Bamboo Theatre for their other free performances next week. It was very entertaining and great family entertainment. I recommend it as an awesome CNY activity!
The Beat of China was a one time performance as part of the West Kowloon Bamboo Theatre Festival. The Festival will continue until February 16th. For more information on the events, please see our What's On calendar.
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