Learning Programme for Youth Theatre
Zuni Icosahedron is financially supported by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
The “Learning Programme for Youth Theatre” in “Creative Playground – Danny Yung Experimental Theatre” is an elementary programme on the basics of experimental theatre specially designed for local young people aged 16-25, using the creative concept of Danny Yung, the pioneer of Chinese experimental arts, as blueprint, with the aim of training local artistic talents. After interviews and auditions, trainees of Creative Playground will participate in “Creative Lectures” and a series of courses on the basic skills of creativity, including lessons on the body, sounds, space, technology, symbols and structure. They will learn to get to know themselves, theatre and cultural exchange through dialogues to learn about theatre performance and creation in “Creative Education Forums”, the “Nanjing Study Tour” and “Toki Arts Week”, a creative exchange programme on Asian traditional performing arts, as well as learning from dialogues among different artists, professionals and scholars from various disciplines like theatre, arts, the creative industry and education.
Team
Jun to Sep
Dec
Oct
Nov
Creative Lectures
Creative Education Forum
Creation and Rehearsals
Performance of “One Table, Two Chairs”
Nanjing Study Tour
Recruitment
Creative Lectures of Danny Yung Experimental Theatre
Speakers: Danny Yung and local guest artists
Space
Theatre space and public spaces, subversion of traditions and reconstruction of traditions
Architects and artists coming together to develop future public spaces
Get to know what theatre is, get to know the history of theatre. Theatre is a public space, and directors and architects of theatres have common responsibilities. The aim of cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary studies and collaborations is to develop more new space in order to explore and create comprehensive public spaces with a world vision. Crossing over is a means of creative criticism and self critique as well.
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Technology
Technology and arts firing up mutual inspiration for future development
Opening up dialectical creation with the application of new technology
The relationship between theatre creation and technology: technology can be the tool of “knowledge”, just as text / words could be the tool of “knowledge”. Theatre can be the tool of “knowledge”. Creation can also be the tool of “knowledge”. If the development of technology goes hand in hand with the development of theatre, we could have more inspiration in space, sound, structure, experiments, history, understanding and creation.
Symbols
The confines of text, language, time and space are all symbols
Social politics and memories of history are all symbols as well
What are symbols? When we compare and explore the ins and outs and boundaries of symbols, we can see many different confines, and then we shall find “taboos” and “challenges”, or we may find “the future”. Symbols are the best cultural heritage that history bequeaths us, hoping we could read them creatively, give them new interpretations, then give them discourses and critiques, or even subversions, or even develop them into more visionary and enlightening new symbols; just like the developments of text, of communication, of theatre, and of arts and culture.
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Structure
Essays and texts are a medium, theatre and stage are also a medium
Medium can also be content, and interaction between medium and content can be content as well
Structure is a medium. We put content into the framework of a structure, and then we'd find that structure can be content too. We make contact with concept in the world of the medium, and we'd find the medium is concept as well. We collect messages in a world full of systems, and then we'd find systems themselves could be messages.
Body
We explore the language of theatre with body language
We develop theatre creation with collective creation
We start to understand ourselves by understanding our body. We get to know our body language, and from there we come to understand the culture of our body, the culture of language, the culture of discourse, organisational culture, and local culture. Then, we start to know about creation, personal creation and collective creation. Everything starts from the body.
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Sounds / Voice
Analyse our own voice and establish our identity
Listen to the voices of others so as to inspire in us a comprehensive vision
Learn to speak by learning to listen. Our body can make many different sounds, breathing, clapping, and the sound of our feet touching the ground...learn to listen carefully and with an open mind to each other's sounds, starting from breathing, cultivate your communication skills, learn to make exchanges, learn to collaborate. Listening, speaking and communicating are not only creating, challenges between collaborating teams are not only challenges between actors and audience, between individuals and the collective, but also communication and challenges between the you now and the future you. Everything starts from listening carefully.
Creative Lectures
12 October : Lesson 3 & 4
13 October : Lesson 5 & 6
11 October : Lesson 1 & 2
Date: 11-13 October
Time: 14:00-16:00
Venue: Multi-media Theatre of HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity
Open to public : Free admission
Nanjing Study Tour – Toki Arts Week, A Creative Exchange Programme on Asian Traditional Performing Arts
Trainees of Creative Playground will go to the “Nanjing Study Tour” and participate in “Toki Arts Week” in attending master classes and workshops by Asian performing artists and some performances.
Date: 31 October – 13 November
Place: Nanjing
Fee: Trainees will receive full funding for this tour
Criteria for Participation:
Toki Project
“Toki Arts Week”, a cross-regional, cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary creative exchange programme on Asian traditional performing arts, will take place in Nanjing in November, manifesting the creative vision and space of “cross-boundary” collaborations, creations, and exchange of Danny Yung Experimental Theatre.
Danny Yung is the Artistic Director as well as the Chief Curator of “Toki Project”, an event in collaboration with cross-regional, cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary contemporary artists and cultural workers from Tokyo, Bangkok, Hyderabad and Nidengbasa in India, Yogyakarta in Indonesia, Beijing, Nanjing, Taipei, Singapore and Hong Kong. These artists and cultural workers are from different fields, such as, Noh play, Kunqu opera, classical Thai dance, classical Balinese dance, classical Indian dance, contemporary theatre, contemporary dance, mime and acrobatic arts. Through “Toki Arts Week”, a creative exchange programme on Asian traditional performing arts, these traditional and contemporary arts practitioners from various disciplines come together for a cross-regional, cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary creative project in order to develop an extensive, dialectical and artistic exchange for Asian traditional arts.
"Toki 2016 Nanjing Study Tour" is financially supported by the Home Affairs Bureau and the Commission on Youth Secretariat
More information
The design of the curriculum of “The Basics of Creativity” is by a group of experienced artists, and there are three topics in the cross-over theatre creation for exploration:-
Body and sounds
Text and images
Space and technology
The body is the most important element in performing arts, and therefore understanding our own body is extremely essential for approaching theatre creation. We shall start from understanding our body, and slowly discover how body language is developed, and how it turns into a performance. We'll look at the process of how exercise, breathing, vocalisation turn into performing; and we shall also explore how we could form a collective from individuals through interaction and co-ordination.
Content of workshops:
Workshop Instructors: Park Hobin (Seoul), Dick Wong, Steve Hui
These are not writing or painting classes, but lessons on how to read and interpret all symbols, in text or images, produced in the process of theatre creation. What are symbols? What is the relationship between text symbols and image symbols? We shall explore and experiment with the attributes of text symbols and image symbols, and see how changes in the nature of symbols could affect their definitions.
Content of workshops:
Workshop Instructors: Yu Yat-yiu, Lai Tat Tat Wing
What is theatre? Why is there theatre? How theatre space is formed? How the changes in technologies affect theatre space and theatre creation. What is multi-media? What are the relationships between multi-media, technologies and theatre space? How to create, break through and reconstruct theatre space so as to increase the possibilities of theatre creation.
Content of Workshops:
Workshop Instructors: Ellen Pau, Dorotea Etzler (Berlin)
Dates: 14-30 November
Time: 19:00 – 22:00 (Mon – Fri)
14:00 – 18:00 and 19:00 – 22:00 (Sat and Sun)
Venue: Dance Studio of HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity
Criteria for Participation:
- only trainees of Creative Playground are eligible
- trainees must attend Creative Lectures of Danny Yung Experimental Theatre
- trainees must complete the “Nanjing Study Tour”
Fee: trainees will receive full funding for this course
With guidance by Danny Yung and other professional instructors, the 18 trainees will learn from the various series or workshops to understand anew body language, performance routines, and the merging of our body with the stage. And with that experience, each student will create a 5-minute piece, with “One Table Two Chairs” as the starting point.
'One table and two chairs' is the basic set for the stage in traditional Chinese opera, and Danny Yung has been using it as the platform for developing creative dialogues, contemporary theatre experiments and cross-cultural exchange since 1997. Over the years, more than a hundred artists and creative personnel from around the world have participated in the project of “One Table Two Chairs”, including famous directors Zhang Ping, Wang Jingsheng, Stanley Lai, Lin Zhaohua, Li Liuyi, Edward Yang, Tsai Ming Liang, Stanley Kwan, and the like.
Artistic Director: Danny Yung
Creative Instructor (body): Chloe Wong
Creative Instructor (sounds) : Steve Hui
Dates: 1 – 8 December
Time: 19:00 – 22:00 (Mon – Fri)
14:00 – 18:00 and 19:00 – 22:00 (Sat and Sun)
Venue: Dance Studio and Multi-media Theatre of HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity
Fee: Trainees will receive full funding for this course
Criteria for Participation:
Danny Yung Experimental Theatre Education Programme “6 Waves 6 Shocks”
One table two chairs, six elements of the theatre, eighteen young peoples
In training for Danny Yung Experimental Theatre Education Programme, one should start from understanding one’s own body. What would it be like after Six Waves Six Shocks? Not one word? Two people of the same mind? All three mouths are tightly sealed? Nothing is taboo? Or just absolute nonsense?
Six Waves Six Shocks are experiments done by the young trainees in Danny Yung Experimental Theatre Education Programme, under the guidance of Danny Yung. The materials for these experiments are six basic elements of the theatre – the body, sounds, space, technology, signs and structure – and they are all done with the minimal set of one table two chairs. One Table Two Chairs is the basic set for the stage in traditional Chinese opera, and Danny Yung, the experimental art pioneer, has been using it as the platform for developing creative dialogues, contemporary theatre experiments and cross-cultural exchange since 1997. Over the years, more than a hundred artists and creative personnel from around the world have participated in the project, including Ping Chong, Wang Jinsheng, Stanley Lai, Lin Zhaohua, Li Liuyi, Edward Yang, Tsai Ming-liang, Stanley Kwan, and the like.
Artistic Director, Director: Danny Yung
Creative Performances: Trainees of Creative Playground
Date: 9-11 December
Venue: Multi-media Theatre of HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity
Duration: about 90 minutes without intermission
Credit Card Telephone Booking: 2111 5999
Online Booking: www.urbtix.hk
Programme Enquiries: 2566 9696
Ticketing Enquiries: 3761 6661
Zuni Website: www.zuniseason.org.hk
"Invisible Cities IV – Center of Culture"
“Every city is an open stage, is also our future theatre, as well as Hong Kong. In the invisible cities, in these cities full of problems, we see each other, and we finally see ourselves.”
Inspired by the book of the same title by the Italian author Italo Calvino published in 1972, Danny Yung’s experimental theatre Invisible Cities began on ‘Dean's Master Artist Creative Education Project’ presented by Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 1993. It is a series of experimental theatre collaboration between Danny and local young artists, studying their identity and the relationship between Hong Kong. In 2015 and 2016, Zuni commenced the Learning Programme for Youth Theatre ‘Creative Playground – Danny Yung Experimental Theatre’ to teach six elements of theatre art: body, sounds, space, technology, symbols and structure. Hence, the presentation performances of these programmes developed into Invisible Cities (2015) and Invisible Cities/Decameron presented by The Absolutely Fabulous Theatre Connection (AFTEC). Invisible Cities IV – Centre of Culture is a Site-Specific Performance at the foyer of Hong Kong Cultural Centre.
Date & Time :
19/03/2017 15:30 - 16:30
Venue:Hong Kong Cultural Centre Foyer
Free Admission.
Creative Education Forums
Local and overseas professionals and scholars on creative education will be invited as guest speakers for forums with creative education as the topic, and they will answer questions and provide opinions to trainees of “Creative Playground” attending the talks. Creative Education Forums present a platform for experts, scholars, the public and young people, who would will be future forces of cultural development in Hong Kong, to develop some multi-directional, interactive and experimental dialogues so they could have an opportunity to explore the issue of “discovering oneself and discovering each other” by means of a cross-boundaries learning experience of theatre creation, where they can learn from each other and discuss the future development of education, arts and culture.
Date: 12-14 December
Time: 15:00-17:00
Venue: Drama Theatre of
The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
Open to public Free admission
All Forums will be conducted in Cantonese,
Putonghua and English with Simultaneous
Interpretation Service.
12/12/2016
15:00 - 17:00
Education is to Experiment/ Reinvent Tradition ?
13/12/2016
15:00 - 17:00
Education is to Experience School Executive's Vision and Planning?
Forum Guest
Ms. Patravadi Mejudhon
Founder and Artistic Director,Patravadi Theatre
Ms.Peng Huiheng
Vice Department Head, Drama School of Hebei Vocational Art College
Prof. King Siu
Associate Dean of the School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Moderator
Mr. Mathias Woo
Co-artistic Director cum Executive Director,
Zuni Icosahedron
Prof. Hartmut Wickert (Zurich)
Department Head of Performing Arts and Film, Zurich University of Arts
Mr. Li Liuyi (Beijing)
Director and Playwright, Beijing People’s Art Theatre
Prof. Li Che-lan, Linda
Professor of Department of Public Policy, City University Hong Kong
Ms. Ada Wong, JP
Convenor, Make a Difference
14/12/2016
15:00 - 17:00
Public Engagement/ Advocacy is the Future of Education?
Mr. Kok Heng Leun (Singapore)
Member of Parliament, Singapore and Artistic Director, Drama Box
Prof. Chen Pi-han (Taipei)
Associate Professor, National Taiwan College of Performing Arts, Acrobatics and Dance
Prof. Li Siu Leung
Dean of School of Chinese Opera, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
Mr. Simon Wong
Artistic Director, Ming Ri Institute for Arts Education
Ms. Lynn Yau
Chief Executive Officer (Planning & Arts Learning), The Absolutely Fabulous Theatre Connection
Creative Lectures
Nanjing Study Tour
Basic Courses on Creativity
Creation and Rehearsals
Performance
Creative Education Forum
Recruitment of Trainees
- Targets: young people keen on local performing arts aged 16 – 25 (Capacity: 18 trainees)
Deadline: 19/8/2016
Interviews / Auditions:3-4/9/2016
Announcement of Results for Interviews:12/9/2016
Trainees are obligated to attend the followings:
Trainees will receive full funding for Nanjing Study Tour
Trainees will receive full funding for the above classes
Contact
Course Content
Contact︰ Mr Ricky Cheng
Tel:852-2566 9696
Mobile︰852-9270 2462
Fax:852-2838 7527
Email:ricky@zuni.org.hk
Press
Contact︰Mr Luka Wong
Tel︰852-2566 9696
Mobile︰852-6301 6569
Fax︰852-2838 7527
Email︰luka@zuni.org.hk
Basic Courses on Creativity
Artistic Director, Director: Danny Yung
An experimental art pioneer and one of the most influential artists in Hong Kong, Yung is a founding member and Co-Artistic Director of Zuni Icosahedron. In the past 40 years, Yung involved extensively in multifarious fields of the arts, including theatre, cartoon, film and video, visual and installation art.
Endeavours in Experimental Arts
In the past 40 years, Yung has been involved in over 100 theatre productions as director, scriptwriter, producer and/or stage designer. His theatre works were staged in cities across the world, including Tokyo, Yokohama, Toga, Singapore, Taipei, Shanghai, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Brussels, Berlin, Munich, London, Lisbon, Rotterdam and New York. In 2008, Yung created the commissioned theatre work by Hong Kong Arts Festival, Tears of the Barren Hill which reflects on the innovation of traditional Chinese theater and the institution of cultural exchange. It won him the Music Theatre NOW Award given by the International Theatre Institute of UNESCO. At the Shanghai Expo in 2010, he presented in cooperation with the renowned Japanese theatre director Makoto Sato The Tale of the Crested Ibis as a cultural exchange project, which combined for the first time the elements of Noh and Kun theatres, as well as traditional arts and cutting-edge (robot) technology. Yung developed on the concept of the Crested Ibis, or Toki, and has curated the annual Toki Festiva” since 2012, as an effort to enrich young Kun performers’ experience, and to promote exchanges between contemporary and traditional performing arts in Asian regions.
Yung is among the pioneers of Hong Kong experimental film and video artists. His short film, video and installation art pieces have been shown in Berlin, New York, London, Rotterdam, Copenhagen, Tokyo and Hong Kong since 1980s. His Tian Tian Xiang Shang conceptual comics, figurines and sculptures have been exhibited in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, Taipei, Singapore, Ann Arbor, Paris, Milan, Washington DC, Seattle, Toronto and Mexican City and etc.
Policy, Research, Planning and Education
Yung keeps a close watch on the arts and cultural policy and education development in Hong Kong as well as in the Asia Pacific regions. Yung currently serves as Chairperson of the Hong Kong–Taipei–Shenzhen–Shanghai City-to-City Cultural Exchange Conference, and a member of Design Council of Hong Kong. He was appointed the inaugural Dean’s Master Artist in Drama of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 2013. He currently sits on the Management Board of HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity, the advisory boards of Department of Cultural Studies of Hong Kong Lingnan University, School of Drama of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Cultural and Heritage Management of City University of Hong Kong.
Cultural Exchanges
In 2009, Yung was bestowed the Merit Cross of the Order of Merit on Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany in recognition of his achievement and contributions on cultural exchanges between Germany and Hong Kong. In 2000, Yung organized the Festival of Vision – an 11-week program of cross-cultural festivals and conferences held in Berlin (Haus der Kulturen der Welt) and Hong Kong (Tamar Site) respectively. The festivals engaged the participation of over 1,000 artists and cultural practitioners from 35 cities in Asia and Europe. In 2014, commissioned by the 48th Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Yung designed the “Gateway – Tian Tian Xiang Shang” broad-scale flower plaque bamboo installation, featuring the Lingnan cultural heritage of flower plaque. The installation, which measures 35 meter broad, 10 meter high and 6 meter deep, stands on the National Mall of Washington DC during the Festival.