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Chloe Loung

Chinese painter Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010) remains one of the most important artists of the 20th century – a bridge-builder who combined traditional ink painting with the bold abstraction of Western modernism.
Later this month, the Hong Kong Dance Company (HKDance) will explore his visual language in the cross-disciplinary Grand Dance Poem In Between – Wu Guanzhong’s Ink Odyssey.
Co-presented with the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and co-organised by the Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA), the production will be a highlight of both the French May Arts Festival and the Chinese Culture Festival 2026, which kicks off in June.
One of the show’s highlights will be to see how Wu’s visual language is translated into a sensory spectacle of dance, light and sound.
“It is a story of entrustment,” explains Nadia Lau, curator of the HKMoA, which holds the world’s largest public collection of Wu’s work – over 460 pieces. “In June 2010, just days before he passed away, Wu Guanzhong instructed his son to bring his final four paintings from Beijing to Hong Kong to donate to us. We held a reception that evening, and he passed away that same night. It was as if he could finally let go, knowing his last works were safely entrusted to the public.”

This trust was not given lightly. Wu’s relationship with the museum dates back to 1985. Lau recalls a pivotal moment in 2002 when curators grouped three works – Two Swallows (1981), Former Residence of Qiu Jin (1988), and Reminiscences of Jiangnan (1996) – to be displayed together as a trilogy. “When Wu Guanzhong saw this, he later wrote that he was ‘captured’. He felt the museum truly understood the essence of what he was trying to do.”
This foundation of understanding, coupled with a HK$100 million (US$12.8 million) donation from the Wu Guanzhong Art Sponsorship and another HK$90 million from Wu’s son, Wu Keyu, has empowered the HKMoA to push the artist’s work beyond the gallery walls.
“Wu was a formalist,” Lau says. “He focused on dots, lines and planes to express rhythm and tempo, and he would often describe his own paintings using musical terms. We felt dance was the perfect medium to bring that dynamic, melodic quality to life.”
Choreographed by HKDance artistic director Yang Yuntao – who recently received a distinguished achievement award at this year’s Hong Kong Dance Awards – the production takes Wu’s distinctive art style and reimagines it as dynamic movement.
“Dots, lines and planes are really just descriptive terms,” Yang explains. “A gesture can be a dot; an extended arm can be a line; the amplitude of a movement can be a plane. Across any art form, you can use the same vocabulary to describe what you are doing.
“A painting is all about composition in a given space, and it works the same way as choreography.”

While French artists Dominique Drillot and Sophie Laly provide the production’s visual backdrop using light designs and projections, the soul of the piece centres on Yang’s long relationship with Hong Kong after moving to the city from mainland China to join HKDance in 2002.
He admits he did not immediately fall in love with Wu’s more chaotic, abstract depictions of modern cities.
“I used to look at those dense, tangled works and ask, ‘Where is the beauty?’ But the more I looked at them, the more I understood that beauty is not just about what looks comfortable. This density, this rush – this is Hong Kong.
“This is our landscape painting now. We admire ancient mountains and rivers, but this density, this rush – this Hong Kong is alive in a different way.”
For Ivana Wong, a Cantopop singer-songwriter who wrote a soundscape for the performance, the goal was to go beyond conventional beauty – what she calls the “formula” of a perfect melody – to capture Wu’s unique perspective.
“Anyone can learn the Golden Ratio. We’re not here to just make something ‘beautiful.’ We want to capture how Wu Guanzhong saw the world. That unique vision is what I’m chasing in the music.”

For more information, click here.
May 22 to 24, Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, 10 Salisbury Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui.


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Incredible works of Wu Guanzhong reimagined in Hong Kong dance crossover

“Grand Dance Poem In Between – Wu Guanzhong’s Ink Odyssey” from the Hong Kong Dance Company  reimagines Chinese artist Wu Guanzhong’s famous dots, lines and planes as dynamic movement. Photo: HKDance

An official poster for Grand Dance Poem In Between – Wu Guanzhong’s Ink Odyssey. Photo: HKDance

(From left) HKDance artistic director Yang Yuntao, HKMoA curator Nadia Lau, and singer-songwriter Ivana Wong, who wrote a soundscape for Grand Dance Poem In Between, stand in front of an artwork by Wu Guanzhong at the HKMoA in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Edmond So

The production reimagines Wu’s visual language as dynamic movement. Photo: HKDance

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Conductor Vivian Ip takes part in a rehearsal session for The Diary. Ip is also the co-artistic director of Anima Ensemble. Photo: Anima Ensemble

Performers rehearse a scene from The Diary. Photo: Anima Ensemble

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October 14 (1973), by Tang Chang. Photo: Tang Chang Private Museum

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The exterior of the new Tang Chang Private Museum. Photo: Enid Tsui

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“Untitled 1” (2013), by Dinh Q. Le. Photo: 10 Chancery Lane Gallery

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Featuring music by Cantopop star Ivana Wong, the Hong Kong Dance Company’s new cross-disciplinary production explores Wu’s visual language


Featuring music by Cantopop star Ivana Wong, the Hong Kong Dance Company’s new cross-disciplinary production explores Wu’s visual language.


Incredible works of Wu Guanzhong reimagined in Hong Kong dance crossover

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Featuring music by Cantopop star Ivana Wong, the Hong Kong Dance Company’s new cross-disciplinary production explores Wu’s visual language

Featuring music by Cantopop star Ivana Wong, the Hong Kong Dance Company’s new cross-disciplinary production explores Wu’s visual language