• The Auction of Love Stories invites audiences to put a value on love (Photo courtesy of Cultural Affairs Bureau)
  • Several outreach programmes enrich the 17th Macao City Fringe Festival (Photo courtesy of Cultural Affairs Bureau)

17th Macao City Fringe Festival Taps into City’s Overlooked Values

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The 17th Macao City Fringe Festival - organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, and this year themed 'Treasure Hunting' - extends from 12th to 21st January, featuring a total of 23 wonderful programmes, as well as ten outreach activities such as workshops, talks and art critique, among others, enabling the public to uncover the city's treasures and explore overlooked values in the interaction between individuals.

Endless surprises

The 10-day long Macao City Fringe Festival features a kaleidoscope of creativity and surprises: Jin-Tang, the name of Taiwan creator Ma Wei Yuan's grandfather, allows audiences to peek at the most intimate anatomy of an individual's life experience through body language and instant synthetic images.

Meanwhile, the show idiot - Syncrasy - presented by Igor and Moreno from the United Kingdom, suggests they can change the world through performance, using rhythmic body movements and common elements of two ethnic dances to express a yearning for the purest in human nature. My Old Man is a Bus Driver, presented by Dream Theatre Association, takes the audience on a two-hour drive with a retired bus driver, wandering around areas of Macao that have likely been forgotten.

The Festival also features other excellent programmes, including The Auction of Love Stories, a performance which invites us to submit items and love stories for auction, allowing the audience to give each one a value. Niyaro: Yearning for Homeland calls for the identity recognition buried deep within each person through chanting, dancing and ritual ceremonies held on Hac Sa Beach. You Can Sleep Here converts streets into beds and invites the public to gather in a mysterious place (known as abandoned public places) thereby tearing down the barriers between private and public spaces. In Bear with Us three giant bears stroll around the city and may suddenly appear next to you, causing pleasant surprises!

Outreach programme enrichment

Interactive Talk: Know more about Theatre for Babies, presented by the Polyglot Theatre from Australia, broadens participants' imagination with regard to theatres for babies and explores the role of adults in theatre space. Polyglot Theatre also hosts the Creative Production Workshop on Theatre for Babies, whereby participants can make their own props and explore ways to use the body and facial expressions in order to give babies a perceptual experience.

Hong Kong dance group Unlock Dancing Plaza - a recurring winner of the Hong Kong Dance Awards - joins hands with Japanese Namstrops to present three vivacious programmes: bolero, Hurdle#3 and A Short, Thick Rainbow. The 'bolero Workshop', conducted by bolero choreographer Ong Yong Lock encourages participants to unleash their imagination with the body its vehicle. Four physical education trained members of the Namstrops company join hands with Professor Rumiko Takahashi of the Faculty of Education and Culture of the University of Miyazaki to host the 'Physical Expression Workshop', in which unique artistic ideas are shared. Upon completion of the above workshops, participants will join the related activities of the Fringe Festival.

This edition of the Fringe Festival also includes Fringe Reviews, whereby art critics hailing from different regions and from a variety of backgrounds and experiences offer the public different perspectives on the Fringe Festival. Additionally, in order to enhance artistic exchanges between regions and broaden the space for development of local art professionals, this edition of the Fringe Festival will continue to hold sharing sessions 'Art Festivals in the Cities 2.0', inviting curators of performing arts events from all over the world to share experiences on local festivals and cultural environment in their hometowns, allowing local art groups that intend to perform abroad to collect necessary information.

For more information, please visit the Macao City Fringe Festival webpage: www.macaucityfringe.gov.mo.