Author Archives: hksar gov

     Dance scholar Vanessa Cheung and five guest speakers will host seven contemporary dance lectures and workshops, organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), from September to November.
 
     Choreography seems very simple but it is intriguing and often starts with the creator’s tastes and inclinations. The lectures and workshops will guide the participants to explore and discuss the special qualities of modern dance and contemporary dance through specially designed interactive sessions and dance performance video clips. The programme will also attempt to decode dance from its primary source – creation – and participants will be guided to understand how a choreographer selects, trims and pares down ideas and turns them into visible movements for the audience to watch.
 
     The lectures and workshops will be conducted in Cantonese. Details are as follows:
 
September 19 (Wednesday), 7.30pm
Exhibition Gallery, Tsuen Wan Town Hall
Topic: “New Force in Motion” Series – “Lördagsgodis” by Gabbie Chan and “Moha” by Jennifer Mok
Guest speakers: Gabbie Chan and Jennifer Mok
 
September 26 (Wednesday), 7.30pm
Exhibition Gallery, Tsuen Wan Town Hall
Topic: “Tree of Codes” by Wayne McGregor (UK), Jamie xx (UK) and Olafur Eliasson (Iceland/Denmark)
 
October 3 (Wednesday), 7.30pm
Exhibition Gallery, Tsuen Wan Town Hall
Topic: “Dance On” Series – “Untitled III” by Wayson Poon
Guest speaker: Wayson Poon
 
October 25 (Thursday), 7.30pm
AC1, 4/F, Administration Building, Hong Kong Cultural Centre
Topic: “Negotiation” by Olé Khamchanla (France/Laos) and Pichet Klunchun (Thailand)
 
November 1 (Thursday), 7.30pm
AC1, 4/F, Administration Building, Hong Kong Cultural Centre
Topic: “Swan Lake/Loch na hEala” by TeaÄ‹ Daá¹�sa (Ireland)
 
November 8 (Thursday), 7.30pm
AC1, 4/F, Administration Building, Hong Kong Cultural Centre
Topic: “When I Grow Up” by Victor Fung
Guest speaker: Victor Fung
 
November 15 (Thursday), 7.30pm
AC1, 4/F, Administration Building, Hong Kong Cultural Centre
Topic: Siu Lung Fung Dance Theater
Guest speaker: Cyrus Hui
 
     Vanessa Cheung holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance from Ohio State University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in dance from Texas Woman’s University in the US. She was a lecturer of the School of Dance at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Her scope of teaching covered somatics and dance training for both the Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts (Dance) programmes, as well as mentoring Master of Fine Arts (Dance) postgraduate students.
 
     Tickets for “Lecture Series and Workshops on Contemporary Dance” priced at $50 for each session (free seating) are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For telephone credit card bookings, please call 2111 5999. For programme enquiries and concessionary schemes, please call 2268 7323 or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/dance/programs_612.html. read more

     The "Our Music Talents" Series presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) will be held from September to January next year. Local emerging artists will showcase their music talent and offer … read more

     The Government announced today (August 17) that the Financial Secretary, in exercise of his authority under the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance, had re-appointed the Chairman and seven incumbent members of the M… read more

     Talented young Hong Kong choreographers Gabbie Chan and Jennifer Mok will stage their new dance works “Lördagsgodis” and “Moha” under the “New Force in Motion” Series in September.
 
     The “New Force in Motion” Series presents new dance works by emerging choreographers. It aims to offer a professional platform for young choreographers to showcase choreography, encourage development, and stimulate creativity through artistic mentoring and collaborative research.
 
     “Lördagsgodis”, choreographed by Gabbie Chan, will be performed by dancers Chan Lok-hin and Cyrus Hui, while “Moha”, choreographed by Jennifer Mok, will feature performances by dancers Pansy Lo, Kaspy Ma and K T Yau.
 
     Gabbie Chan graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, majoring in Chinese dance. Chan is currently the Artist in Residence of Passoverdance. From 2012 to 2014, Chan performed with DanceArt Hong Kong in productions including “In Search of Hui Sin”, “M-cident” and “Lament of the Exile”. In 2015, she joined Passoverdance and took up choreography. Chan’s recent choreographic works have included the environmental dance “Recycle Green” presented in the i-Dance Festival (HK) in 2015 and “The 16th Day”, which premiered in the Hong Kong Jockey Club Contemporary Dance Series of the 44th Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2016. Other works include “From Scratch”, “Whisper of Bubble”, “Fabric”, “He, She, It”, “Past” and “Chase”.
 
     Jennifer Mok graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, having majored in ballet, and studied modern dance the following year. Mok is currently an independent artist. She was a dancer in City Contemporary Dance Company from 2007 to 2014. In 2015, Mok performed in her first work as choreographer, “A Major Clown in G Flat”, in “Femininity” by E-sides Dance Company, and the production earned Mok nominations for Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Performance by a Female Dancer in the 18th Hong Kong Dance Awards in 2016. In the following year, her work “You are Beautiful” premiered in the Hong Kong Jockey Club Contemporary Dance Series of the 45th Hong Kong Arts Festival. In 2018, Mok was invited to the Hong Kong Dance Exchange and the 2018 Dance Round Table in Taiwan.
 
     Presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, “New Force in Motion Series: ‘Lördagsgodis’ by Gabbie Chan and ‘Moha’ by Jennifer Mok” will be staged at 8pm on September 28 and 29 (Friday and Saturday) and at 3pm on September 29 and 30 (Saturday and Sunday) at the Black Box Theatre of the Kwai Tsing Theatre. Tickets priced at $160 (free seating) are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For telephone credit card bookings, please call 2111 5999. For programme enquiries and concessionary schemes, please call 2268 7323 or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/dance/programs_617.html. read more

     The Labour Department (LD) today (August 17) reminded employers to make prior work arrangements for staff in times of rainstorms as soon as possible.
 
     “To avoid disputes and confusion, employers should make prior work arrangements for staff and contingency measures in times of rainstorms,” an LD spokesman said.
 
     “In working out and enforcing the arrangements, employers should give prime consideration to employees’ safety both in the workplace and during their journeys to and from work, and adopt a flexible approach. Whenever possible, they should consult their staff.”
 
     The work arrangements should cover the following matters:
 
* Whether employees are required to report for duty when different rainstorm warnings are issued;
* After a rainstorm warning is cancelled, the time for staff who have not reported for duty to resume work and the arrangements;
* How wages and allowances (if any) will be calculated for staff who are required to report for duty and those who are late for work or absent from work during rainstorms; and
* For employees who are required to travel to and from workplaces during rainstorms, whether transport facilities will be provided to them and, if so, the arrangements.
 
     “Employers should make realistic assessments of the requirements for essential staff and require only absolutely essential staff to report for duty in adverse weather conditions. If an Amber, Red or Black Rainstorm Warning is issued during working hours, employees working indoors should remain on duty as usual and stay where they are unless it is dangerous to do so. Supervisors of employees working outdoors in exposed areas should suspend outdoor duties as soon as practicable. They should arrange for their employees to take shelter temporarily and resume duty when weather conditions permit. When the Black Rainstorm Warning is issued, those employees should not resume duty until the warning is lowered and weather conditions permit. If the Black Rainstorm Warning remains in force at the end of working hours, for safety reasons, employers should provide employees with an area in the workplace as temporary shelter for them to stay if they want to.
 
     “If possible, employers should provide transport services for employees who are still required to travel to and from workplaces when the Black Rainstorm Warning is in force, or give them a special travelling allowance as encouragement.
 
     “For staff who have practical difficulties in resuming work promptly upon cancellation of a rainstorm warning, employers should give due consideration to the circumstances of individual employees and handle each case flexibly.
 
     “As rainstorms are natural occurrences that cannot be avoided, employers should not deduct wages of employees who are absent from or late for work because of inclement weather. Neither should employers dismiss an employee summarily based on these grounds,” he said.
 
     The spokesman also reminded employers to observe the statutory liabilities and requirements under the Employment Ordinance, the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance, the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance and the Minimum Wage Ordinance.
 
     Employers should not deduct the annual leave, statutory holidays or rest days employees are entitled to under the Employment Ordinance so as to compensate for the loss of working hours resulting from employees’ failure to report for duty upon the announcement of a Black Rainstorm Warning. An employer who without reasonable excuse fails to comply with relevant provisions under the Employment Ordinance is liable to prosecution.
 
     Employers should also note that they have an obligation to maintain a safe workplace for their employees under the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance.
 
     “If employees are required to work in times of rainstorms, employers should ensure that the risks at work are properly controlled and reduced to levels that are as low as reasonably practicable,” the spokesman said.
 
     Under the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance, employers are liable to pay compensation for deaths or injuries incurred when employees are travelling by a direct route from their residences to workplaces, or from workplaces back to residences after work, four hours before or after working hours on a day when Typhoon Signal No. 8 or above or a Red or Black Rainstorm Warning is in force.
 
     To provide practical guidelines and samples of work arrangements for the reference of employers and employees, the LD has issued the booklet “Code of Practice in times of Typhoons and Rainstorms”. The code can be obtained from the branch offices of the Labour Relations Division or downloaded from the department’s webpage (www.labour.gov.hk/eng/public/wcp/Rainstorm.pdf). read more