Making waves with a migration story

The Hong Kong Dance Federation is showcasing new works based on indigenous elements of Chinese culture, the highlight being Turbulent Waves, a displacement-themed piece that fuses the traditional with the contemporary. Chitralekha Basu reports.

This month, the Hong Kong Dance Federation is hosting a symposium, workshops, and a dance expo featuring performances by more than 40 companies from all across China as part of its program titled The Chinese Culture and Dance Festival. All eyes are on Turbulent Waves, an HKDF-produced dance drama premiering at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre on Aug 19. The piece celebrates two items on Hong Kong's intangible cultural heritage list: Yingge (heroic) dance, a tradition that was brought to the city by the migrants from Chaozhou in Guangdong province; and the worship of the Tin Hau goddess - the deity presiding over sea voyages.

The dance drama promises to be a spectacle that will hopefully enhance our understanding of migrants and the migrations taking place in the world today. As playwright Gerard Tsang points out, in Turbulent Waves the character of Tin Hau represents "an inclusive symbol of oceanic culture and her mercy extends to all".