Directors of a new show which debuts this weekend have used dance movements to express human emotions most vividly. A preview by Agnes Lu.

Director Tang Wai-kit and choreographer Shing Mak like to call their show Danz Up a "dansical", and that's not inappropriate at all. Dancing will take up half of the two-hour stage play. The young band of performers will present over 10 genres of dance, from hip-hop to jazz funk.

The performance, which debuts tomorrow, is based on a simple but inspiring story about a bunch of dream-chasers. These include the protagonist Siu Ding, who fares poorly in school and dreams of becoming a street dance performer and his sister Mei Chu, the sole breadwinner of the family, whose wish is to travel around the world. They both go on a journey of chasing dreams.

Both Tang and Mak admitted they were under great pressure creating and directing the show specially commissioned and produced to play at the current edition of the Hong Kong Arts Festival. This was the first time Tang, an award-winning director, was trying his hand at a "dansical". For Mak, who has over a decade's experience choreographing for famous local singers, the hardest part was making everything come across as convincing on stage.

"It was nothing like choreographing for concerts or movies. The audience can see everything on the stage, so I had to consider every detail and the ways of smoothly pushing the storyline forward and keep the audience in high spirits," said Mak.

For example, originally Mak had planned to have the performers dance their way from point A to point B on stage when they needed to change places. Then he consulted Tang and the two decided a more dramatic way of presentation than simply dancing. "This is how a choreographer and a director collaborate in a 'dansical'," Mak said.

Tang's responsibilities were relatively simpler, but highly significant to the team's overall progress, as he put it. Interestingly, the hardest part for him was to coordinate the schedules of different people in the crew - professional dancers, senior dancers, amateur dancers and even Chinese "Dama" (literally, big mothers, i.e. middle-aged women who are seen dancing in parks). The scheduling of each rehearsal was a harrowing task as Tang would end up juggling with six pieces of A3 paper, showing the entries and exits of all the performers.

Popular appeal

Dance dramas are relatively new in Hong Kong. The popularity of the 2013 movie The Way We Dance indicated that there might be a potential market for the genre. Besides, people still sympathize with the seemingly old-fashioned theme of dream chasing.

The team has made a great effort illustrating each character's emotion through the meticulously designed dance steps. They decided to keep the plot straightforward and simple. During blocking the production, dance movements were evolved to make the transition between scenes.

For example, in a scene where two old acquaintances meet, instead of dialogues, Mak says he thought up "cute steps" to hark back to the time the two characters had spent together during their growing-up years. Long-cherished memories are re-visited and presented most vividly through dance in that segment.

In another scene, when Siu Ding and Mei Chu have a huge fight and Siu Ding rushes to the rooftop, Tang also chose a dance movement to express Siu Ding's struggle and disorientation. "The emotion is really simple and natural, but I use body movements to express that. The act is between pure acting and pure dancing," Tang said.

By telling a simple story through eye-catching steps, Tang hopes the audience can ponder upon the significance of both the present and the future. Living in the moment is as important as the pursuit of dreams, he said, for "as long as we are dedicated to things we consider meaningful to us, it is always fine to enjoy and celebrate".

Contact the writer at agnes@chinadailyhk.com

Shing Mak (left) and Tang Wai-kit (Center) both admitted they were under great pressure, trying to make the dance drama both dazzling and inspiring.

(HK Edition 03/04/2016 page11)