Raewyn Hill is heading to Hong Kong at the end of August to start an eleven-month residency at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

The Christchurch-based choreographer says all kinds of opportunities have come her way since she retired from performing last year: "It's incredible how this year has unfolded. Once your work gets on the international circuit, the doors starts opening."

Image: Mercy: A dance for the forgotten, choreographed by Hill.Raewyn Hill is heading to Hong Kong at the end of August to start an eleven-month residency at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

The Christchurch-based choreographer says all kinds of opportunities have come her way since she retired from performing last year: "It's incredible how this year has unfolded. Once your work gets on the international circuit, the doors starts opening."

Image: Mercy: A dance for the forgotten, choreographed by Hill.Hill's international career has been building up since her spotlight performance at the 2004 Australia Performing Arts Market in Adelaide, where Creative New Zealand has been funding and organising a New Zealand presence since 2000.

Later that year, Hill was invited to perform her work When Love Comes Calling at the Sydney Opera House.

"It's all about getting your work on stage so it can be seen and also building networks," she says. "In 2005, I was in China as a guest choreographer at the Beijing Academy of Performing Arts and I think that helped in aiding the appointment in Hong Kong."

As part of the residency, Hill will spend 20 hours a week teaching choreography and will also be creating a graduation work for the academy, which she hopes to premiere in New Zealand in 2009.

Hill's most recent work, Mercy: A dance for the forgotten, was performed by Australian dance company Tasdance. A co-commission between the Southern Lakes Festival of Colour and Ten Days on the Island, it premiered at the Ten Days on the Island festival in Tasmania before its New Zealand premiere at the Festival of Colour in Wanaka in April this year.

Now, the choreographer has been commissioned to create another work with Tasdance and will also be choreographing graduation works in 2008/2009 for Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in Perth and the Victoria College of the Arts in Melbourne.

15/8/07