December in Hong Kong can be a place you love or you hate, depending on what you think about cheesy Christmas music, overcrowded shopping malls and larger than life cartoon characters dressed as Santa Claus. If you want to put Christmas on hold for a few more weeks, or simply don’t “do Christmas” than make sure you make your way to Kowloon for the free Music, Dance and Art festival also known as the Freespace Fest Hong Kong.
The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (“WKCDA”) will take the public on a journey of “cultural exploration” along the waterfront promenade of the District on December 15th and 16th from 13:00 to 22:30. The programme will feature live music, dance, outdoor performances and art installations, as well as collaborative and public-initiated programmes.
It is particularly important that those of us who have whinged and whined about the lack of festivals in Hong Kong go out and show support for these initiatives if we want more. As Mr Louis Yu, Performing Arts Executive Director of WKCDA explained: “Freespace Fest is not merely to showcase the beautiful blending of various arts and cultural elements that have shaped Hong Kong, but also to experiment on how to use the future arts space in WKCD’s park and its unconventional performance facility – the Freespace. It will be a cross-disciplinary cultural happening rooted in WKCD for Hong Kong people with strong local artist presence as well as talents from around the world.”
He went on to add that “There will be something for everyone to enjoy at Freespace Fest. We hope to provide a boundless space at the venue — both physically and artistically, on-stage and off-stage, for different cultural elements and art forms to cross, for performers and the public to interact, and most importantly for everyone to get involved and be inspired.”
This is not however just a music festival and dance lovers will be entertained with street dancers on the main stage, modern dancers performing vaudeville, and ballet jazz dancers battling with B-boys around the audiences and exhibits
Freespace Fest’s programme details are now available online and the performance schedule will also be posted at www.freespace.hk.
Members of the public can receive free admission for Freespace Fest by registering online at www.freespace.hk.
First phase for online registration will begin on 21 November (Wednesday) at 11am, while the second phase will be open on 26 November (Monday) at 11am. The last phase registration will start on Wednesday, 5 December at 9pm.