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Eryck Brahmania stole the limelight as the narrator; his several short solos were excitingly danced with plenty of energy. William Lin danced adequately as the Emperor, but his montonous facial expressions needed improvement. Faye Leung was tender as the Maid. Liang Jing was a dignified minister, but Kyoko Tomimura was a plucky nightingale without much beauty. Carlo Pacis was quite lively as the mechanical bird.

Reiter-Soffer however crammed in far too much action into the ballet, with a lot of busy dancing for the corps de ballet. Some prudent cuts could have made the ballet much tighter, for instance the episode depicting the breakdown of the mechanical bird which went on for far too long after making its point. And the long animals' dance in Act 1 was not all that funny after a while.

The duets however lacked poetry except for the final pas de deux, and the steps weren't particularly memorable overall. It is in theatrics that the choreographer fares better. The happy ending with the wedding was a heart-stirring climax enhanced by the drummers. Richard Tsang's music score accompanies the ballet well. What a pity that the company is not bringing this ballet on its Spanish tour this month, as it shows them off at their best.

Hong Kong Dance Company was more ambitious in its Hans Christian Andersen programme for the Carnival, premiering at Kwai Tsing Theatre a two-act work "King of Fairy Tales- The Eternal Child" choreographed by its assistant director Leung Kwok-shing, with specially composed Chinese music.

Costumes are excellent throughout this new work, as is typical of the company's productions. There is a child-like figure who appears throughout the evening representing Hans Christian Andersen who is the unifying character linking six of Andersen's fairy tales presented in this work starting with "The Ugly Ducking" and ending with "Little Mermaid". Leung's choroegraphy is adequate overall, though somewhat predictable and repetitive at times. The ensemble dances are effective. Some of the pas de deux are quite touching, for instance in the flashback duet in the tale "The Old Bachelor's Nightcap".

The ending in "The Ugly Ducking" when the child dreams himself taking wings and becoming a swan is imaginatively presented. The third tale "Emperor's New Suit" is quite jolly with a lot of spectacular ribbon dances, and the drama is well narrated. The best is the moving final tale "Little Mermaid", about the mermaid destroying herself to save the prince who has fallen in love with the princess instead of herself. The final tableau with flower petals raining from above is quite spectacular.

Earlier this summer, the Lyons Opera Ballet presented at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre "Tricodex" which is also appealing to both children and adults alike. This 80-minute work, which is mostly in the dark, was choreographed by Philippe Decouffle. Images include animals, plants, insects, flying machines; and the influence of circus and acrobatics is pretty strong. Not all sections are memorable. Among the best is a section for two women on a flying wire leaping up and down the air supported by their male partners.

Another duet has a female dancer spinning on a disc. The animals impersonated by the dancers are easy to spot - deer, dogs etc. There is a funny episode for the male ensemble parading themselves like in a beauty constest. A recurring motif sees the dancers moving around with protruding arms and head gear. You have to admire the dancers for excelling in these non-dance routines.

Also worthy of mention is the Jean M. Wong School of Ballet, which celebrated in mid-August its 45th anniversary with two performances of "Stars of Tomorrow" at the Cultural Centre, offering a number of delightful numbers danced by its students. The highlight was the white act of "Swan Lake" closing the evening. The prince was stylishly danced by a tall corps de ballet dancer from the Kirov Ballet, Sergei Kononenko. Kononenko also danced the solo from "Le Corsaire" and the Black Swan solo, and was more impressive in the former. The school's corps de ballet of swans stood up pretty well in comparison with that fielded by the Hong Kong Ballet last autumn when the company last danced "Swan Lake". Credit is due to Andrei Matinkin, a former teacher of the Vaganova Academy, who staged the white act for the school.

(An edited version of this review first appeared in the Hong Kong Economic Journal.)