A very Scottish romance

FOR DANCE AFICIONADOS, the name Matthew Bourne needs no further introduction. For his most famous works like “Swan Lake” and “Mary Poppins”, the British director and choreographer has won several awards and recorded sold-out runs at many venues on both sides of the Atlantic.
Even before his version of “Swan Lake” shot him to international stardom in 1995, he had created his very own version of “La Sylphide” for his company Adventures in Motion Pictures. Last year, the Scottish Ballet commissioned him to revive it for the company, marking the first time his work is being performed by another company than his own, now known as New Adventures.
In this tutu-free, kilt-filled, version, Bourne surprises audiences from the first scene, which is set in the gent’s toilet of a bar called Highland Fling. It’s the venue for bridegroom-to-be James’s stag night and he and his Glaswegian friends are making merry on the eve of his wedding to Effie. As they’re also taking drugs, it’s hard to decide whether the Sylph first appears right above the urinals to later lure him away or if, in his drug-induced haze, he’s simply not ready for married life.
For the Scottish ballet performance, which was the version staged at the Hong Kong Arts Festival, Effie’s mother was cut and James and Effie both have more friends, each with unique personalities, than in other versions. Village sorceress Madge evolves into one of the pair’s drug-dealing friends and is in love with James, balancing out Gurn who loves Effie. These changes give more weight to the mortal world and make the dramatic story one to which we can relate.
When James leaves his city flat to follow the Sylph to a forest outside Glasgow, Lez Brotherson, the man also responsible for the vibrant costumes, brings James’ car, headlights glaring, to the stage. The shadows of city buildings, meanwhile, contrast with the trees, connecting this 200-year-old romantic ballet firmly to the present.
With sharp artistic vision and energetic performances to Allan Morgan’s rearrangement of Herman Severin Lovenskjold’s original score and smart additions like “Auld Lang Syne” and a few other Scottish tunes, “Highland Fling” is as entertaining as a romantic ballet can be. And that’s not simply because it’s deftly reset into our zeitgeist.
More importantly, it’s because Bourne, as in all his works, has focused on telling their story as much as choreographing the movements, with his dancers concentrating on acting as much as on moving.
In this part of the world where young and aspiring dance and theatre artists are trained separately as if they were of different species, it’s helpful to be reminded once in a while that dance and theatre are in fact inseparable buddies.
The dance line-up of the 42nd Hong Kong Arts Festival is infinitely more exciting than in the recent years as it exemplifies the sheer diversity of dance today.
And adding to the delights of “Highland Fling” is Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch’s dance-opera “Iphigenia in Tauris”, being staged this coming Wednesday.

The writer wishes to thank Hong Kong Arts Festival Society’s Alexia Chow for all assistance.

TWO WEEKS TO GO
The 42nd Hong Kong Arts Festival runs until March 22.
From Thursday to Saturday the Asia Pacific Dance Platform VII presents contemporary works from South Korea, India and China; and from Thursday to Sunday the Hong Kong Jockey Club Contemporary Dance Series will feature works from Hong Kong.
Book at www.Urbtix.hk. For details, visit www.HK.ArtsFestival.org.