Dance-drama Storm Clouds, based on the popular comic series, The Storm Riders, won several trophies at Hong Kong Dance Awards. Photos provided to China Daily

In its 35th year, Hong Kong Dance Company has built a rich, critically acclaimed repertoire, even as they keep learning from their journey so far. Dara Wang has a ringside view of what's to come.

In its 35th anniversary year, Hong Kong Dance Company (HKDC) is ready to take the stage with an exciting new range of shows. While The Legend of Mulan continues to be the flagship production of the company, four years running, the current season will see performances of Storm Clouds, Reveries of the Red Chamber and Chinese Hero: Tales of the Blood Sword, scheduled to debut in coming months.

HKDC adaptations of Chinese classics are usually done with a view to making these more relatable to the audience. While the trend in cinema or literature has been to make a super-hero of Mulan, HKDC's Artistic Director Yang Yuntao is in favor of playing up the human side of the fable of Mulan, trying to draw parallels with the daily lives of common people. "For people like us with no personal experience of war, the saga of Mulan in the battlefield seems too far away from our lives. However, the filial ties and fortitude displayed by Mulan in a harsh environment can strike the right chord with a contemporary audience," said Yang.

HKDC performances resonate well with the audience also because of their emphasis on conveying the emotion of a piece. HKDC's principal dancer Pan Lingjuan said, "HKDC scales down the display of dance techniques in favor of a smooth conveying of emotion. Even an abrupt kick- a basic dance move - might come in the way of the audience appreciating the mood of the moment."

Dancer Tong Chi-man reiterated the importance of maintaining perfect synchronicity between dancers performing in a group. "Each move by a dancer in a group plays an important part to help immerse the audience into the story," he said.

In a new bottle

It took Yang a while to figure what the audience really like. The productions that seemed to him to have reached a level of creative excellence after he had put in hours of hard work, failed at the box office. For example, Spring Ritual-Eulogy, in which performers simulated the movement of brush strokes drawing Chinese characters, did not go down too well with the audience. On the other hand, the shows Yang had put together without much artistic thought turned out to be hits. For example, his adaptation of A Chinese Ghost Story more or less followed the original version, which was well taken by the audience. "The big applause from the audience surprised but also disappointed me. I realized they were cheering more on account of their memory of the classic story rather than my creation," said Yang. Since then, Yang considers both factors - familiarity and artistic innovation - while choreographing new shows.

To get a better understanding of local taste, Yang, who is from the mainland, has tied up with Hong Kong comic artist Ma Wing-shing. Together they worked on the dance dramas Storm Clouds which debuted in 2014 and Chinese Hero: Tales of the Blood Sword will open later this year.

Adapting Storm Clouds from a hugely popular comic series by Ma Wing-shing was an experiment. Fans of the comic, who had never been to a dance drama performance before, attended the show. "Some fans told me openly that they came only because they liked Ma's work although they weren't that interested in dance," said Yang. "But I am satisfied that they had their first experience of entering a theater to see my work."

HKDC now targets potential audience across the board, as they believe everyone should have a taste of this performance form. Yang revealed that next year they have plans of bringing the story of Hong Kong movies from the 1970s to 1980s on stage. It's a story Hong Kong people are familiar with and will hopefully help enlarge HKDC's audience base.

Mix and match

HKDC's repertoire covers ancient Chinese ballad, martial arts-based legend, ethnic folklore, and stories set in the present. While each genre is presented in its distinctive style, Yang has combined contemporary and traditional Chinese dance styles, as well as worked out unlikely fusions between the East and the West. "I think this is exactly where our strength lies," says Yang. "It gives us greater flexibility in terms of artistic expression. In my eyes, the boundary between East and West has already blurred."

Last year, HKDC presented The Legend of Mulan at New York's Lincon Center. On Saturday, they are performing the well-acclaimed dance drama, The Butterfly Lovers, at a dance festival in Seoul.

Yang and his troupe enjoy their trips abroad. They are too seasoned by now to get overwhelmed by the newness and unfamiliarity of a culture different from theirs. "I never see a theater abroad as a totally strange place. I can always make good friends with people from different cultural backgrounds," said Yang.

Tong feels it's probably easier for dancers to communicate with people from a different culture, being trained users of the body language. The principle of communicating without words also works internally, for HKDC's dancers come from different parts of China, and speak different dialects.

Pan recalled an anecdote about meeting a fan during the performance of Mulan at Lincon Center. "He waited backstage for more than an hour to meet me. When he finally did, he was totally surprised at my height, as I seemed much taller playing Mulan on stage," said Pan, smiling.

Evidently, an HKDC show can work like magic on the audience. Someone playing the heroine assumes larger-than-life proportions on stage, by dint of a performance delivered with panache.

(HK Edition 04/22/2016 page7)