Midnight Oil
What is the reality facing a contemporary dancer in two different parts of the world? What are their similarities and what are their very different experiences? How can they respond to these with their bodies in a space where two distant cultures are intertwined bit by bit?
Midnight Oil is a collaboration between the Hungarian company HODWORKS and the Hong Kong organization Unlock Dancing Plaza. In their joint work, the two boundary-pushing groups explore how they can find a common language for the different external influences and expectations on the body in the world of contemporary dance.
Midnight Oil uses abstract, fragmented elements to represent very concrete cultural and societal experiences. A group of dancers from two distant corners of the world find common ground by sharing their own cultural traditions and individual experiences.
Unlock Dancing Plaza is a contemporary dance company founded in 2002, based in Hong Kong. The company is committed to pursuing innovative breakthroughs and theatrical liberation, embodied in and practised through its productions. Unlock Dancing Plaza is a three-time Hong Kong Dance Awards recipient and highly recognised by peers in the dance industry.
The HODWORKS company was founded in 2007 by Adrienn Hód. The ensemble works with freelance artists and is active both in the Hungarian and international contemporary dance scene. The core dancers of the troupe have been working together for years in varying constellations. The performances mark unknown, boundary-pushing directions, often dealing with the physicality of the completely stripped human body. The content of their works is characterized by a subtle movement between an abstract appearance and a concrete, often verbalized meaning. Their topics range from universal human experiences to the specific critique of the world of contemporary dance. The performances of HODWORKS have been selected three times by Aerowaves, and the company is a multiple winner of the Rudolf Lábán and Imre Zoltán awards in Hungary.