Here's the link to an article in the Taipei Times about the Lyons company's tour.<BR> <A HREF="http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2001/05/11/story/0000085295" TARGET=_blank>http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2001/05/11/story/0000085295</A>

Thanks, Kevin. Will you be reviewing them?

Yes, Azlan. I look forward to seeing them in Hong Kong this coming weekend.

Last Saturday, I skipped the Stuttgart Ballet and caught the Lyons Opera Ballet making its second appearance in the annual French May Festival in Hong Kong. <P>The programme opened with Pascal Touzeau's "Final Lecture". This is an well constructed ensemble ballet with the dancers clad in red costumes and a white backdrop. The lighting is often very striking. Dancers form interesting configurations and groupings in their rapid movements. The action is often dispersed and there isn't always a main action in the centre of the stage, e.g. two dances can happen simultaneously on each side of the stage.<P>Far less interesting is the middle work "Black Milk", by Ohad Nharin, which is a short macho dance for five of the company's male dancers. It is incomprehensible why each dancer takes turn to smear mud on the face.<P>The final work "Bolero", choreographed by Australian Meryl Tankard, is more a special-effects work than pure dance. Dancers dance behind a white backdrop and are magnified in size when projected on the backdrop. There are fascinating overlappings of images, evoking a dreamland of apparitions. It was quite a dazzling finale to the evening, though thin in dance.<BR>