Abby Man-Yee Chan / Choreographer, Movement Director, Dancer and Performer
Abby is a graduate of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and a dancer with the Hong Kong City Contemporary Dance Company from 1991 to 1998. She is constantly active in the dance community promoting arts culture. Early in 1993, she jointly founded the dance group “Danseomanie” which focused on introducing dance to teenagers and the general public. In 1997, she co-founded the duet company “Mcmuimui Dansemble” with Yeung Wai Mei. Their highly acclaimed work has toured New York, Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore & Taiwan.
Abby was a Lee Hysan Foundation fellowship recipient of the Asian Cultural Council in 1995. This gave her an opportunity to present her work in New York and expand the horizons in her dance career. In addition to performing in Hong Kong, Abby has performed for many internationally renowned choreographers and companies, including Australian dance company “Expressions” (1998), the New York based company “Bill Young and Dancers” (1999), “ Sally Silvers & Dancers (2004) and “Pele Bauch Performance” (2006-07).
Abby has also been active participating in the Hong Kong Arts Festival’s productions as performer and choreographer: 2001 The Brave New World of Suzie Wong (Lead performer); 2002 The Untouchable Sky (Movement Director), 2003 Rite of Spring ( Solo performer); 2004 The Bad, the Good , the Scarlet O’Hara (Choreographer, performer & singer); 2004 B.O.B.* (Guest performer); 2007 My Life as a Dancer (Choreographer & performer).
Her choreographic work includes “Disclosure” & “ Pipe Dream”, both commissioned by the City Contemporary Dance Company. Her solo work “Spectrum” has toured with the Little Asia Dance Exchange Network in Taipei, Sydney, Hong Kong, Seoul & Tokyo. In New York, her work has shown in some of the compelling performance venues including the Mulberry Street Theater, the Joyce SoHo, the Chashama’s OASIS Festival, 92nd St.Y, Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX), the Chen Dance Center, and The La Mama etc..
Besides dance and choreography, Abby was also the project coordinator for the Hong Kong Dance Alliances dance exchange program from 2001-2006. This program has successfully brought thirteen teachers/ performing artists from United State to Hong Kong. The final production “Dance Wide HKNY” brought two groups of excellent individual dancers/choreographers from both sides of the world to collaborate a master piece which showcased in New York and Hong Kong. This production was awarded the Hong Kong Dance Award in 2006.
in 2008 -09, a collaboration between Abby Chan and a Brazilian Choreographer Otávio Bastos in São Paulo – Hong Kong Artist Residency Project. The work “When mr. Bastos meet ms. Chan” has been shown at Galeria Olido in São Paulo , and the Hong Kong Fringe City Festival.
Abby received the Hong Kong Dance Award in 2003 for her choreography (Pipe Dream), 2004 for performance (Yuri Ng’s Rite of Spring), and 2006 for the production of Mcmuimui Dansemble (Love in a Doggy Bag) and the Cultural Dance Exchange project (DanceWide HK/NY) . In addition to dance, Chan is thrilled to have collaborated and performed with Hong Kong’s active theater companies – the Theatre Ensemble, Shu Ning Presentation Unit and Trinity Theatre Company these past few years which showcased her versatility in the performing arts.
Her theatre appearance included in Candace Chong’s play <<Wild Boars>> which directed by Olivia Yun in the 40th Hong Kong Arts Festival ; Unlock Dancing Plaza’s first consecutive novel cross-media trilogy 《Walls 44 》; Hong Kong Dance Festival outdoor multi-media dance event 《Journey to the West》 by Daniel Yeung; as Movement director of Dionysus Contemporary Theatre’s 《Equus》; and her own free-form production 《Kidult Ophelia》 at No. 12 Cattle Depot. Recently just finished the production of 《Black Monday》 in the New Vision Arts Festival, and the 《Duras Project: Moderato Cantabile/ C’est Tout》, as well as Reframe Theatre’s 《A Concise History of Future China》 in the Hong Kong New Vision Festival. Abby was one of the cast in independent film director Rita Hui’s latest movie 《Pseudo-secular》 .
Her latest production《 Cattle Runway》at Cattle Depot, the heritage ex-slaughter house, presented by the HK Leisure and Cultural Services Department – is a mixed theatre to explore the dynamics of human behavior in society in the form of a catwalk and fast fashion to illustrate how our society looks today.
Abby is also one of the artists who participate in the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority’s “ON VIEW: Hong Kong” dance film installation exhibition, and International Co-Lab Artist Residency program which taking place in Edinburgh, Auckland and Hong Kong.
Her recent production “ MMM : RE ” was presented by the Tai Kwun Dance Season 2019.
As creative partner, director and choreographer of “ No Man is an Island “ in ÉLAN Lost Child Project HK 2020-22. The project assembled the joint efforts of artists, scholar and community to look into the mental health of youngsters and grown-ups through an eclectic programme of dance, theatre, music, interactive games and forum.
She is currently lives in Brooklyn and works in both New York and Hong Kong.
陳敏兒
畢業於香港演藝學院主修現代舞。1991 -1998年曾任香港城市當代舞蹈團舞者，1995年獲亞洲文化協會利希慎獎學金赴美交流。1998年與舞者楊惠美創立「雙妹嘜舞蹈劇場」，風格被喻為充滿香港本土情懷，別樹一幟的女子雙人組合。陳氏所編作品除香港以外，曾應邀於紐約、科羅拉多、悉尼、東京、首爾、台北、新加坡、廣州及巴西聖保羅等地演出。陳氏分別憑《光纖纖》的編舞（2003）、《春之祭》的演出（2004）, 製作雙妹嘜舞蹈劇場《尋找家豬的故事》, 及籌辦「DanceWide香港/紐約舞蹈交流計劃」（2006），獲香港舞蹈聯盟頒發四項舞蹈年獎。
演出之作品包括參與香港藝術節委約作品《野豬》； 編導演古蹟舞蹈劇場《免治O孃》； 不加鎖舞踊館舞蹈連續劇《牆44》；香港舞蹈節戶外多媒體舞蹈盛會《慾．望．西．九》；京都聽在音樂藝術節 ; 及別府現代藝術節。陳氏除活躍舞蹈界外，亦積極參與戲劇演出及擔任形體指導 。近作包括, 新視野藝術節節目: 甄詠蓓戲劇工作室《黑色星期一 》及 再構造劇場《未來簡史》;《杜哈絲百年：如歌的中板／就這麼多》; 神戲劇場《馬》及《仲夏夜之夢》之形體指導; 獨立電影許雅舒作品《風景》及舞蹈電影《在野》之演出。 最新作品《花生騷》將極速舞蹈時裝秀窺探社會和人性的荒謬。
近年被邀參與西九文化區與城市當代舞蹈團合辦「新作論壇：光影舞蹈」, 「觀‧影 ── 香港舞者」, 及西九文化區管理局表演藝術部之三年「國際跨界實驗交流」計劃, 為蘇格蘭、新西蘭及香港三地表演藝術家提供創新的駐地交流。