The Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macau SAR Government presents the 24th Macau Arts Festival (MAF) with the aim of creating a platform for cultural exchange. This year, the Festival will open on 3 May and, for the period of one month, will feature thirty-four acts, half of which are local productions.

This year’s Festival includes a varied array of performances from Mainland China, Portugal, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Israel, Taiwan, Vietnam and Singapore, ranging from contemporary dance to traditional Beijing opera, from multimedia performances to shadow puppetry, from audiovisual architectural mappings to exhibitions of traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting. Shows for all tastes take to the stage, not only at the city’s performing arts venues but also at many of Macau’s world heritage sites.

The MAF begins and ends with two contemporary dance works. Drought and Rain, by renowned French-Vietnamese director, choreographer and performance artist Ea Sola, lifts the curtain on this year’s edition. This ballet continues Sola’s study of the memories of war, expressing deep humanistic concerns and developing the notions of “hardship” and “forgiveness”. FAR, an anatomy-defying work by multi-award winning British choreographer Wayne McGregor, is sure to bring the Festival to a scintillating close.

At the core of the Festival programme are other treats. A team of outstanding choreographers from across Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau have collaborated to deliver Love Letters, a dance performance revealing the splendid results of a fruitful inter-regional co-operation. Han Yuniang, a new work presented by the China National Beijing Opera Theatre, stars Dong Yuanyuan, artistic successor of famed performer Mei Lanfang. Local artists, who studied under Spain’s Telenoika Audiovisual Open Creative Community, have created two audiovisual shows in Mapping: Made in Macau I and II, designed specifically for the façades of the Mandarin’s House and Tap Seac Square. French choreographer and dance revolutionary Xavier Le Roy blends science with imagination to explore the infinite possibilities of the human body in Self-Unfinished.

Art exhibitions are also featured in the MAF. Vanishing Techniques – Photography of Jean Baudrillard showcases the French thinker’s unique photographic theory and practice, which allowed him to demonstrate with a camera his varied ways of looking at and perceiving the world. The Macau Museum hosts Fantasy World – Chinoiserie, a display of European-made artefacts dating to the 17th and 18th centuries, inspired by an admiration for the Chinese art and philosophy being imported from the East during the Age of Enlightenment.

Macau, a Happening Destination

Macau is basking in the spotlight, thanks to the opening of multi-billion dollar resorts and luxury hotels. A Special Administrative Region of China, the 29.7 sq km territory has metamorphosed into a family entertainment centre. More deluxe resorts will make their debut, shifting the focus from roulette to razzmatazz, convention tourism and family entertainment.

Modern buildings rub shoulders with restored colonial edifices, churches, Chinese gardens and temples…. Plug into Macau’s Chinese-Portuguese heart.

Apart from the nightlife and the glittering shows, young adventurers can get an adrenaline rush at the Macau Tower by plunging down the world’s highest commercial bungy jump (233 m), sky jumping or by embarking on a sky walk along the tower’s outer rim.

Memories of a rollicking holiday in Macau will stay with you even when the photographs start to fade.