Unfortunately, due to government advice and restrictions on travel, this residency exchange had to be cancelled.

Unity Space in Hong Kong and the Dance from England programme collaborated on a residency exchange.

Selected artists Si Rawlinson (UK) and Kenneth Sze Cheuk-Yin (HK) were due to spend 3-weeks at Unity Space, Hong Kong in November 2019 and 2-weeks in residency at Dance4’s iC4C, Nottingham UK, in Spring 2020. Working with the theme of IDENTITY this residency exchange seeked to bring artists from different contexts together to share practice and work together with dramaturg and artist / host Vangelis Legakis.

Si Rawlinson is a Hong Kong born, mix British East-Asian dancer and theatre maker. He is a Breakthrough Artist at Curve Theatre, Leicester, and Artistic Director of Wayward Thread. His work uses a mix of hip-hop styles and contemporary dance, making political theatre that explores compassion, identity, and our dissonant relationship with a rapidly changing world.

He has performed internationally, and across the UK at leading venues like Southbank Centre, Roundhouse, Barbican, Sadler’s Wells and The Place. Si also teachers dance at De Montfort University between performing.

Kenneth Sze Cheuk-Yin is currently a freelance choreographer, movement director, dancer, actor, capoeira practitioner.

His work as a performer includes Unlock Dancing Plaza’s Chopin VS Ca, 27 by Ivanhoe Lam chun-ho, Helen Lai and Victor Ma ‘s Frida/Suddenly, Chloe Wong ‘s Heaven Behind the Door. In recent years, with the interest in text and movement, Kenneth has been more involved in drama productions as an actor. His choreography includes a short piece Hold On, which was invited to the Beijing Dance Festival and a full-length work Dark Aroma curated by CCDC and Hong Kong Dance Alliance.

In 2019, Kenneth collaborated with Reframe Theatre as choreographer and movement director for a movement theatre piece Goldfish Of Berlin and as a performer for Happily Ever After Nuclear Explosion, which is going to toured in Korea in October 2019.

Unity Space is an organisation established in Hong Kong since 2015 to promote and support the dance and choreography education in HK and across the world. Unity Space produces three major festivals, the Hong Kong International Choreography Festival, and East Point West | Interdisciplinary Festival of Embodiment in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia and the Dance and Martial Arts Festival in China. Unity Space also creates interdisciplinary projects and artists in residency across the world to offer more opportunities for artists to create new works, moreover when they are early in their choreographic career.

We create projects, festivals and residencies across the world inclusive to all people, cultural background and ethnicity, profession and gender. Unity Space is a space of integration where we unite people and cultures within a collective spirit. Our values: Unity, Synergy, Integration, Collaboration represent all our activities.

Vangelis Legakis is an international Dance Artist, Choreographer and Producer leading educational and cultural art projects across the world. In 2008, he established The Van-L Dance Company in London with which he is touring his productions up to date. In 2015, he initiated the organization Unity Space established in Hong Kong which is focusing in creating, supporting and promoting interdisciplinary festivals, projects and residencies for advancing the dance education, choreography and life itself.

He was the semi-finalist at the Place Prize choreography competition in 2010, London, The Place; and at the same year he was awarded the Marion North Mentoring Scheme in which he had Gill Clarke as his mentor researching on the Integration of Performing and Visual Arts. His greatest influence in dance and choreography pedagogy has been The Forsythe Company and William Forsythe where he regularly visited between 2004-2013 to research on dance language, choreography, composition and improvisation methodologies. In 2006, he also performed ‘Human Rights’ with the company. Legakis has been closely studying Flying Low & Passing Through with David Zambrano 2008-2018. He holds a diploma to teach, spread and develop Flying Low and Passing Through from the 50 days project in Costa Rica given by David Zambrano in 2010. His work is influenced by renowned dance artists including William Forsythe, Julyen Hamilton, David Zambrano, Gill Clarke, Rosemary Butcher, Rosalind Crisp. Legakis is also a therapist of diverse modalities that he integrates within dance; and he is a teacher of Yoga, Chi Gong, Meditation and Mediation. He has synthesized his experience and knowledge to create his own philosophy in dance Embodied Unity that he is internationally teaching.

Legakis dedicates his career to offer his knowledge and experience to assist in the growth and education of young artists, emerging, and professionals, as well as for non-artists.