Opening Hong Kong’s 2023 International Arts Carnival, Sam and her Amazing Book of Dinosaurs is a new ballet – a collaboration between 59 Productions, celebrated New York-based composer Nico Muhly and acclaimed Hong Kong Ballet Artistic Director Septime Webre. 59’s stage design brings together the analogue and the digital – with a physical set inspired by a children’s pop-up book, which is augmented by animation and video projection.
Nine-year-old Sam moves to a new neighbourhood in Hong Kong and faces the daunting challenge of making new friends and starting over at a different school. One morning, her teacher gives her a dusty old dinosaur encyclopaedia, which she discovers has magical powers. Inside the yellowing pages, she discovers a portal that transports her back to prehistoric times. There, Sam meets a baby dinosaur who becomes her best friend. But when Sam’s newfound friend tags along back to the modern world, she realises that her already difficult new life just got a lot more complicated…