HK Ballet
Friction
Choreographer: Forrest Rain Oliveros
Dancers: Reina Sawai & Forrest Rain Oliveros
Music: Hot Natured featuring Anabel Englund – Reverse Skydiving
In dialogue with Writer Jamie Chang
Forrest Rain Oliveros
Corps de Ballet
Joined 2017
Born in Tennessee, US, Forrest Rain Oliveros trained at Ballet Tennessee, Ellison Ballet and The Ailey School in the US. He danced with Charlotte Ballet and other companies before joining Hong Kong Ballet as a member of the Corps de Ballet in 2017.
With Hong Kong Ballet, Oliveros has performed featured roles of Rat King and Russian Doll in Terence Kohler’s The Nutcracker and danced in Alexei Ratmansky’s Le Carnaval des Animaux, among others.
Reina Sawai
Coryphée
Joined 2019
Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Reina Sawai trained in Japan, Hong Kong and the Philippines and received a one-year scholarship in Portugal. She danced with National Ballet of Portugal, Vienna State Ballet and Boston Ballet before joining Hong Kong Ballet as a Coryphée in 2019.
She has danced in Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon, John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet, Rudolf Nureyev’s Don Quixote, Swan Lake, Nutrcracker, Raymonda, George Balanchine’s Serenade, Who Cares, Donizetti Variations, William Forsythe’s Artifact, Pas Parts, Blake Works, Second Detail and Jorma Elo’s Fifth Symphony of Jean Silelius, among others.
Sawai was a semi-finalist in 2008 Prix de Lausanne and the Bronze medalist in 2009 TanzOlymp Berlin.
