Eight agile dancers and seven cute and unique NAO robots will take audiences into a surreal world in the dance extravaganza "ROBOT" from August 5 to 7. In the production, the 2-foot-tall robotic novice dancers will "learn" to swing with the beat amid endearing and inspiring dance between humans and machines. The absurd and the humorous will meet the poignant and the heart-warming in the futuristic dance party.
 
     France's pioneering Blanca Li Dance Company also incorporates the mechanical orchestra of Japanese avant-garde group Maywa Denki in "ROBOT". Serving as art installations as well as providing magical live accompaniment, the automated instruments add to the fluid choreography and dazzling projection to deliver a futuristic extravaganza.
 
     El País in Spain praised the programme as "a very powerful visual show filled with stage effects, playful choreography and pungent humour".
 
     Blanca Li, born in Spain, spent five years studying at the Martha Graham Dance Center in New York. She then moved back to Europe to found her own contemporary dance company in Paris and has performed in over 1 000 venues worldwide. Li has choreographed dances for the Paris Opera Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
 
     Established in 1993, Maywa Denki specialises in creating ingenious automated instruments-cum-art installations, employing simple physics and mechanics to make zany pop music. The company has held exhibitions and performed around the world.
 
     "ROBOT" is one of the programmes of the summer festival International Arts Carnival (IAC). It will be held at 7.30pm on August 5 and 6 and 3pm on August 7 at the Kwai Tsing Theatre Auditorium.
 
     Tickets priced at $140, $200, $260 and $320 are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For credit card telephone bookings, please call 2111 5999.
 
     The IAC, organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, is running from July 8 to August 7 to feature a variety of events for family entertainment. For programme enquiries and concessionary schemes, please call 2370 1044 or visit www.hkiac.gov.hk.

Ends/Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Issued at HKT 18:10

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