City Contemporary Dance Company Board of Directors is delighted to announce the appointment of Yuri Ng as the fourth Artistic Director of City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC), succeeding Dr Willy Tsao who resigned at the end of last year. He will take part in the future planning of the Company from May 2020 onwards, and will officially commence his term from 1 January 2021.

Born in Hong Kong and an experienced dance artist, Mr Yuri Ng has been involved with ballet, contemporary dance, drama, classical music and a cappella, as well as stage setting and costume design. He began classical ballet training with Jean Wong at the age of six, going on to win scholarships to study in Canada and the United Kingdom. He was awarded the Adeline Genée Gold Medal from the Royal Academy of Dancing (RAD) in 1983 before joining The National Ballet of Canada as a dancer.

After his return to Hong Kong in 1993, Mr Ng established a strong connection with CCDC. He worked with the Company on many performances, including A Game of ____ (1993) as choreographer and set and costume designer; The Second Shirt Skirt Show (1995) and Love On Sale (2008) as choreographer; le beau (1996) and The Firecracker (1997) as choreographer and costume designer. He contributed to Seasonal Syndromes (2008), Very Dance (2009) and The Legend and The Hero (2011) as stage/set and costume designer, and to Requiem HK (2018) as choreographer, set and costume designer.

Mr Yuri Ng received the Artist of the Year Award – Choreographer from Hong Kong Artists’ Guild in 1997 and in 1998, and was awarded the Prix d’ Auteur at the Sixth  Rencontres Choreographiques Internationale de Seine-St-Denis (Bagnolet) for his choreography of Boy Story. His two solo pieces choreographed for Genée International Ballet Competition in 2006 have been adopted into the RAD syllabus. His choreography of A Soldier’s Story, in collaboration with Hong Kong Sinfonietta, received the Hong Kong Dance Awards in 2008. He won a Distinguished Achievement Award at the Hong Kong Dance Awards 2012 and Award for Best Artist (Dance) from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2013. Ng also won Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Large Venue Production for Requiem HK at the Hong Kong Dance Awards 2019.

The appointment of Mr Yuri Ng came after an international search conducted by a specially-formed Committee of the CCDC Board. From applicants from around the world, five were shortlisted for interview. Mr Yuri Ng’s long-term artistic plan for the Company was comprehensive, well thought-out and pragmatic. It also demonstrated a clear understanding of the constraints and structural changes CCDC is likely to experience in the future. Mr Ng, with his exemplary qualities, eventually emerged as the successful candidate and was endorsed unanimously by the Board of Directors.

“On behalf of my fellow members of the Company, I am most pleased to welcome Mr Yuri Ng to be our fourth Artistic Director,” said Mr Robert Lewington, Chairman of the CCDC Board of Directors. “We were most impressed by his artistic vision, choreographic prowess, leadership experience, the ability to nurture dancers, as well as his great passion and energy. His numerous accomplishments in cross-over projects with local flagship art companies – from classical to contemporary dance and from classical to contemporary music – made him an outstanding figure in Hong Kong’s art scene. His joining with CCDC will motivate us to move forward. We believe Yuri will establish a good relationship among stakeholders from different sectors, cope with forthcoming challenges faced by the Company, and make CCDC more well-known and welcomed by the public.”

Of the appointment, Mr Ng said, “From dancer, choreographer, to set and costume designer, I have been collaborating with CCDC in different positions for 27 years. I look forward to taking up the challenge and partnering with outstanding artists, staff, and members of the Board of Directors in order to give CCDC a new image and increase its brand impact.”

Founded by Dr Willy Tsao in 1979, CCDC is one of the nine major performing arts groups financially supported by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. CCDC has inspired and enchanted audiences in Hong Kong and around the world with exquisite modern dance performances for 41 years. The Company has staged more than 200 original works to critical acclaim. CCDC has also undertaken innovative collaborations with outstanding artists from other disciplines and from around the world. It is renowned for reflecting the vigour and creativity of Hong Kong’s vibrant, multifaceted contemporary culture, putting on more than 60 shows and entertaining audiences of more than 50,000 people every year.