Time: 30 Sep- 31 Oct
Venue: Paradise Walk, Nan Bin Lu
Organizer: British Council
Supporters: Long Hu•Paradise Walk, Nan Bin Lu management office
Sponsors: Scottish & Newcastle

1. Timetable
Please click here to downlaod the programme (WORD format 71KB).

2. Introduction

1) “Rivers of the world” exhibition
A Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council, sponsored by HSBC Global Education Trust.  Funded by DfES (London Challenge) and Jack Petchey Foundation.

Rivers of the World is an international arts project that involves the creation of large scale artworks by young people for public display. The artworks have shared river themes and are based on the styles of leading contemporary artists.

The featured rivers (and partnered cities):
River Thames (London, UK)
Yangtze River (Chongqing, China)
River Ganges (Kolkata, India)
Liesbeek River (Cape Town, South Africa)
River Nile (Cairo, Egypt)

The six river themes are:
River of Life (the river’s ecosystem, its distinctive plants and animals)Polluted River (drinking water, sewerage, pollution and efforts to keep the water clean)
Resourceful River (global warming, flooding, dams, irrigation and river calamities)
Working River (people whose lives and livelihood depend on the river)
River City (the changing politics of river space, riverside developments, river crossings, docks, leisure and river attractions)
River Culture (representations of the river in art, the river as a play space, river explorers, sacred river, famous events, sport and river festivals)

Exhibition time: 30 Sep- 31 Oct

Venue: Paradise Walk, Nan Bin Lu

2) Lemmings
Dedicated to creating original comedy theatre, the Lemmings have been touring since 1984. By 1986 the Lemmings had started touring internationally. Apart from touring theatres and festivals the Lemmings have been involved in many unusual theatrical productions.

Some of the places that the lemmings have performed include:

“Rivers of the world” exhibition “Yu Dance”

Jerusalem festival, Israel - The World Expo in Brisbane, Australia - the Silk Road Exposition, in Nara, Japan - Halifax Buskers Festival, Canada - Singapore Buskers Festival - Deventer op Stelten, Holland (on two occasions) - Tiong Bahru, Singapore (a special Christmas production) - Rhine Army Summer show, Paderborn, Germany (on three occasions) - Lisbon festival, Portugal - Stockholm Water Festival (on three occasions) - Hong Kong Fringe Festival - The First Bayside Festival, Okinawa, Japan - Roskilde Festival, Denmark - The Youth Olympics, Esjberg, Denmark - The World Expo, Seville, Spain - Rusutsu Resort, Hokkaido, Japan (on six occasions) - Menen Festival, Belgium - Deventer Festival, Holland - Edinburgh Festival, Scotland - the Millennium Dome, in London England - Oostende and Opwick festivals, Belgium - British cultural exchange with Chongquin in China - A five city tour of Turkey - Kala Ghoda festival, India - Al Ain festival, United Arab Emirates - Jvaskyla festival, Finland They would give performance of “Bar room tricks” and “Ostriches” this time.

3) Yu Dance
The studio is a non-profit studio group promoting international exchange of modern dance, providing platform for choreography residence work, and professional training to dancers. The studio team includes:

Rong Tao: Director, chief choreographer
Matthew Hawkins: Consultant, chief choreographer
Hu Wei: Main external coordinator

Dancers
Some artists and professionals

Yu Dance was invited by 2007 Aberdeen International Youth Festival this year. British Council supported them to attend the festival. They would bring back the latest element from UK to present in our festival.

4) Airplay UK+ fashion show

Airplay UK

Airplay UK showcases the most cutting-edge music videos created by UK music video directors. It will be approx 75 mins long and will feature around 15 or so new music videos. It will feature interviews with a featured director or relevant industry commentator. All the videos will be by British directors. The great majority of the music - although not necessarily all - will also be by British bands.

5) Carnival procession

Carnival procession

There would be a carnival workshop in late September. 120 students and 4 teachers from 2 universities would participate in the workshop. Two artists of Mandinga Arts from UK would teach all the participants paint face, make costumes and make puppets for the carnival walk during the workshop.

There would be 8 teams during the carnival walk, each 15 persons. Then we would award the first prize, the second prize and the third after the procession performance.

6) Avanti Display

“Avanti Display” – “Spurting Man”

Avanti Display produce and perform an essentially English street theatre with shows that combine comedy, surrealism, farce and spectacle. Utilising their skills in creative engineering and their trademark of using water in unexpected ways they produce shows with dramatic, often beautiful and comic effects. “Spurting Man”

7) Strangelings

“The photographers”: Meet Henry Burns and George Entwhistle, gentleman photographers. They will pose you, dress you, and provide you with suitable props backdrops and facial hair to ensure your photograph is a perfect work of art, ready to take pride of place in anyone's parlor.

“Strangelings” – “The Explorers”

“The explorers”: “He’s been an awfully long time now sir...” Take a glimpse behind the scenes of a great British polar expedition . Join our ice-encrusted heroes on their tragic-comic quest for the South Pole. See the equipment & organisation that enabled them to fail so magnificently. Witness real men with beards living together in tents. Heroic failure at its finest.

Photos:
1. “Lemmings”
2. Carnival procession