Hofan journal

Duet between Wai-yin and Hofan. Wander, A Human Landscape. Choreographed by Rachel Freeman.

A group of us were walking back from dinner to rehearsal near Nam Cheong, when I asked Rachel (our director for the inclusive dance project between Symbiotic Dance and Blue-Eyed Soul Dance Company) how she found the city.

Rachel had to think about it. “Well, I find Hong Kong to be a very tolerant place.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. Tolerance and generosity are not really the first things that comes to mind when I think of our bustling metropolis. But then, Hong Kong is home. It can be a bit hard to tell from the inside. 旁觀者清, 當局者迷.

“Well, for example, just now at the restaurant [and we were with 國華, a wheelchair buddy], they were happy to set a table outdoors for us. In England they might have thought it to be a lot of hassle, made a lot of fuss.”

Much later, when I was struggling over the two lines of reflection I had to hand in for the program notes when things finally clicked into place. The world is our mirror: Rachel finds Hong Kong to be a friendly place because she is a generous person with a wide-open heart. And when I say wide-open, I mean flood-gate wide. It’s a sort of life-force that sweeps aside all jet-lag, embraces the struggle of working in a different language, and says yes, yes, YES!

Looking back, it’s pretty incredible to realise what the group has managed to achieve in a period of twelve days. It makes me realise how if the director is clear about what she is doing, and is backed up by a solid team (Arnim + Tids)…. kapow! Anything is possible.

“For this jump to work,” says Rachel to Vinci, “You have to fly past Maru. If you imagine jumping into Maru’s arms, you’re going to be heavy. But if you go past Maru, you’ll be much lighter.” She demonstrates, slamming into 丸仔, who catches her in a spin.

Watching them at work, I realize that this actually can be a much more general principle. If I’d stopped – as I did the first couple of days – to consider how I should be pacing myself: yesterday’s rehearsal, today’s tai chi with 師傅, back to rehearsal, teaching, parent-teacher conferences; rehearsal for (No)rwegian Wood, a school tour performance, not to mention the ongoing 高鐵 protest… I would be exhausted. (Actually, looking at the list, I have every right to be exhausted.)

But the trick is to let all of that go. Prepare well, stay present, and embrace the company of people you are working with. Let that give you energy.

This was particularly easy with this ensemble, because we had people who was so direct with their affections. Wai Yin would grasp my hand and touch it to their cheek; 蘇 will clutch at me in his strong hands and not let me go to dinner. May will whisper (at two words a minute), “Can you help me get my bag?”… and then give us souvenirs of pottery and Chinese knots that she has made with her feet…

This project brought out many beautiful things in all of us. For myself, it was a wonderful combination of things I love doing: assistant teaching, listening, dancing.