"When people are watching the dance, they are watching themselves at the same time," says Mui Cheuk-yin of Diary VI: Applause

The "Diary" project was begun in 1986 and contains six pieces, each focusing on Mui's thoughts at different stages of her life. "Writers and painters can clearly and freely express themselves in a diary, why not dancers?" she says.

During a career of almost four decades spent at the forefront of Hong Kong's dance scene, Mui has seen both its ups and downs. She uses dance as a medium to recall bittersweet memories and document the development of modern dance in the city.

Mui says she hasn't added anything to the Diary series since 2009 but each time she performs it the audience can spot subtle differences. A dance piece can become dynamic only through continuous interpretations in different social and cultural contexts, she says.

The Diary series draws heavily on the form favored by German dance legend Pina Bausch. From her esteemed senior Mui picked up new dance techniques and also learnt to look for creative inspiration in everyday life, besides borrowing the idea of blurring the boundary between dance and theater and incorporating multi-media elements in her dance.

Mui included the word "applause" in the title of her piece, as being applauded, she says, "is like completing a circle". "You perform on stage, you receive the applause and flowers from viewers, and then you leave the stage to prepare for another piece."

(HK Edition 10/19/2018 page11)