Until August 3
Seven dance pieces with titles like A Voice from the City (a work with “dance steps for the city”), 100% Cotton (“care for life as you would care for your skin, with 100% cotton. This way we’ll come close to happiness…!”) and Start With the Body (to “feel its weight, feel the possibilities as the body moves the main joints…”) make up A Showcase for Asian Dancers. Outstanding choreographers from the three Chinas, Malaysia and South Korea have drawn on new dance trends and perspectives for their original creations in this showcase at the Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre’s Cultural Activities Hall from July 31 to August 3 at 7:30pm. Matinees on August 2 and 3 will begin at 3pm. Tickets are $180 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

Japan’s largest modern puppet company, the venerable Puppet Theatre Hitomi-za, perform for an estimated 20,000 people each year both at home and abroad. From July 31 to August 3, under the aegis of the on-going International Arts Carnival, the troupe will stage six presentations of The Bicycle, a story about two mischievous siblings who stumble across a magical bicycle, at the HK Cultural Centre’s Studio Theatre. The shows on July 31 to August 2 begin at 7:30pm, the matinees on August 2 and 3 start at 3pm while the morning performance on Saturday, August 2, will commence at 11am. Tickets cost $200 and $120 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

Until August 13
Pandas may be black and white but the vast majority of works to be screened in the 4th InDPanda International Short Film Festival are in colour. And ‘colourful’ also describes their subject matter. The festival is organized by independent film and video arts promoters InD Blue, and features 23 diverse programmes of short films from 24 territories (including Brazil, Canada, Ireland and Portugal as well as the more usual France, the USA and the Big Lychee itself). This truly international celebration of independent filmmaking will run at the Broadway Cinematheque until August 13. Tickets cost $55 each from www.cinema.com.hk and the Broadway Cinematheque box office, 2388 3188. For further details (including individual programme screening times and dates), please refer to our Listings section.

August 1-3
Close to two decades after Dr Martin Luther King Jr. announced, “I have a dream” in his historic speech in Washington, DC, Swedish pop group ABBA released a popular hit song with those very words as its title. This year, it’s the turn of the HK Dance Company Children’s Troupe to show that they, too, have a dream – with performances of a large-scale dance drama about a girl who goes through a time tunnel and a series of hardships in a dream to make her granddad’s wish come true. We Have A Dream will be presented at the HK City Hall’s Theatre from August 1 to 3. The performances on August 1 and 2 will start at 7:30pm while the August 2 and 3 matinees will begin at 3pm. Tickets are $180 and $120 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

August 2 and 3
Established back in October 1978 to encourage dance development in the Fragrant Harbour, the HK Dance Federation currently has 150 member groups and over 600 individual members. In recent years, it has also been holding open and junior-level dance championships in Asia’s World City. This August 2 and 3, the winners of this year’s editions of those championships will join with professional dance companies from Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland China to perform at the Sha Tin Town Hall’s Auditorium. Showtime for the Bauhinia Cup HK Dance Championship 2008 Winners Performance is at 7:30pm on both evenings. Tickets are $130, $110 and $90 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

August 3-November 24
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was only established in 1894 but the Olympic Games, at least in their original form, have their roots in sporting extravaganzas whose first records stretch back to 776 BCE. From August 3 to November 24, the HK Heritage Museum will host a special exhibition, The Ancient Olympic Games, to provide information about the games which took place in Olympia in Ancient Greece. More than 110 of the artefacts are on loan from the British Museum, notably a Roman marble sculpture known as the Discus Thrower, which dates back to the 3rd century. Opening hours are 10am to 6pm Mondays and Wednesdays to Saturdays and 10am to 7pm on Sundays and public holidays. Admission to the exhibition and the rest of the museum is $10 on Mondays and Thursdays to Sundays, and free on Wednesdays. For enquiries, call the HK Heritage Museum, 2180 8188.

August 6 and 7
The Asian Youth Orchestra’s couple of performances at the HK Cultural Centre’s Concert Hall this month will see different conductors, guest artistes and music on each of two evenings. On Wednesday, August 6, the Hong Kong-based orchestra’s artistic director, Richard Pontzious, wields the baton while cellist Alisa Weilerstein is the featured soloist for Elgar’s Concerto in E Minor for Cello and Orchestra. The programme also includes selections from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet suites and Samuel Barber’s Second Essay for Orchestra. Then on Thursday, August 7, James Judd is the guest conductor and violinist Elmar Oliveira the soloist in a concert whose all-Russian programme comprises Tchaikovsky’s Concerto in D for Violin and Orchestra and Shostakovich’s Symphony No 5. Tickets for both concerts are $340 to $75 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

August 8-24
Is there anyone left on the planet, never mind this part of the world, who doesn’t know that the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will take place between August 8 and 24? In any event, to help Hong Kongers get further in the mood for the 29th edition of the modern Olympics, official Olympic Live Sites – complete with giant TV screen and stage, an exhibition area and five other activity zones – will be set up in both Victoria and Shatin parks for the duration of the Games. Only district organization representatives and other people invited by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department will be admitted to the sites on August 8 and the latter part of August 24, but on other days admission is open to anyone who manages to get a free ticket on site an hour before each session. For further details (including session times), call 3972 1857 or please go to our Listings section.

August 9 and 10
With roots in Imperial China and contemporary performers as far afield as the Czech Republic, black light theatre works on the principle that audiences cannot see actors dressed in black against a black background. The principle in all its complexity is applied to Fantasy Travellers: Alice in Wonderland & Gulliver, fantastical adaptations of two English literary classics by the National Black Light Theatre of Prague for the International Arts Carnival. The Kwai Tsing Theatre’s Auditorium will be the venue for the August 9 and 10 shows. Matinee performances start at 3pm while the Saturday, August 9, evening show will begin at 7:30pm. Tickets are priced at $200 to $100 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

August 9-21
It may be called the Beijing 2008 Olympics but quite a few of the games’ venues are outside of China’s capital city – Hong Kong’s particular privilege is to host the equestrian events. The Olympic competition will begin with the Team and Individual Eventing Dressage at 6:30am on August 9 and draw to a close with the Individual Jumping Final Round B and Victory Ceremony at 10:10pm on August 21. Apart from the Team/Individual Eventing Cross-Country on August 11 at the HK Olympic Equestrian Venue in Beas River, all events will take place at the HK Olympic Equestrian Venue in Shatin. For tickets and further information, go to www.equestrian2008.org or call the Olympic Hotline, 2998 7080.