Thematic Talks

Thematic Talk 1

Programme Strategies and the Conservation of Cultural Heritage: A Case Study of the Tea House Theatre

23 June 15:00 (Xiqu Centre)

Dr CHEUNG Ping-kuen (HK) – Chairman, International Association of Theatre Critics (Hong Kong)
Ms Naomi CHUNG (HK) – Head of Xiqu, Performing Arts, West Kowloon Cultural District

Thematic Talk 2 - Dr SHAO Xiaojie

The Strategies and Challenges of Establishing “Memory of the World: Chinese Traditional Music Sound Archives”

24 June 16:00 (LT)

The Chinese Traditional Music Sound Archives were among the first inscriptions on the Memory of the World Register made in 1997. They were the first archives from China selected for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register and the world’s first sound archives inscribed on the register. From content and category, research and collection, to preservation and distribution, these archives remain a rare example of their kind. Since the start of the digital era, there have been unprecedented challenges for the digital archiving of these archives. In the field of digital humanities, the “Chinese Traditional Music Sound Archives” data platform establishes the academic attributes of resources and restores past sounds. It seeks to present relevant historical information and its manifestation in culture, and it points to the concept of sharing and co-creation. It is a quest to preserve the diversity of traditional Chinese music culture, popularise knowledge of traditional music, and pass on and propagate traditional music culture.

Dr SHAO Xiaojie

Dr Shao Xiaojie is a researcher and associate director of Library of Chinese National Academy of Arts. Her research specialises in the history of ancient Chinese music, music archaeology, Chu music culture, and the collection and utilisation of music archives. She is the author of Research on the Chu Bell and Research on Chu Musical Instruments (2018 National Publishing Fund projects), and Music Archaeology—Theory and Information Compilation. She is the chief editor or executive editor of Capital Music from the Zhihua Temple and the Commemoration Catalogue for the 120th Anniversary of Mr Yang Yinliu’s Birth. She is a member of the editorial board for Chinese Music Artifacts, and deputy editor and executive editor of Chinese Music Artifacts II · Hebei. She is a commissioning editor of Guqin—The Incredible Instrument of Silk and Wood (1950-1970), a winner of The Fifth Chinese Publishing Government Book Award. She has published more than 40 academic essays. She is the translator of Vocal Workouts for the Contemporary Singer (Berklee College of Music: Method Book).

Thematic Talk 3 - Mr YANG Yuntao

From Documenting Movement to Performance: A Case Study of Hong Kong Dance Company’s Convergence

25 June 14:30 (LT)

In 2018, Hong Kong Dance Company artistic director Yang Yuntao and a group of dancers embarked on a three-year interdisciplinary arts research project. They studied Southern Chinese martial arts under the guidance of martial arts instructors, discovering new perspectives on movement and the fluidity of expression between Eastern ideology and physical gesture, and exploring the essence of Chinese dance and Southern Chinese martial arts. Through documenting, studying, and arranging movements and movement patterns of the body, they incorporated elements of the traditional practices into the company’s works. In his presentation, Yang will speak about the company’s initiative in conducting choreographic documentation and research study on Chinese dance and martial arts; he will outline the objectives of the research study and examine the use of documentation as a method, discussing the value and extension of documentation in the performing arts. He will also demonstrate the tools and techniques used in the documentation process and discuss what has been recorded, including the process of physical training and the dancers’ first-hand observations and insights. Further, he will elaborate on how these materials are used for review and reference after being archived. They help dancers to develop a deeper grasp of the form, techniques and artistry of martial arts, leading them to a better understanding of the changes, limits, and possibilities of the body, prompting them to instil their insights into their creative works and share them with their industry peers.

Mr YANG Yuntao

Winner of two Hong Kong Dance Awards (2003, 2006) for his outstanding dance performance, and awarded Best Artist (Dance) at the Hong Kong Arts Development Awards 2009, Mr Yang Yuntao is an accomplished dancer and choreographer. He joined the Hong Kong Dance Company (HKDC) in 2002 as Principal Dancer. He was the company's Assistant Artistic Director from 2007 and has been its Artistic Director since November 2013.

Yang has choreographed for various dance companies. His award-winning choreography for HKDC includes: Spring Ritual·Eulogy , winner of Outstanding Achievement in Production at the Hong Kong Dance Awards 2013 and presented in Beijing and Taipei in 2013; The Legend of Mulan, winner of Outstanding Production and Outstanding Ensemble Performance at the 2014 Hong Kong Dance Awards and presented in New York, Sydney, London and Minsk in 2015, 2017 and 2019 respectively; Storm Clouds, winner of three awards including Outstanding Achievement in Production at the 2015 Hong Kong Dance Awards; L’Amour Immortel, winner of three awards at the 2016 Hong Kong Dance Awards, presented in Beijing and Guangzhou in 2017, in Taipei in 2018 and in Shanghai and Hangzhou in 2019; and Waiting Heart, winner of Outstanding Medium Venue Production at the 2019 Hong Kong Dance Award.

Thematic Talk 4 - Ms Jenny MOK

Documenting Theatre with Documentary Theatre: A Case Study of The Pedra Sidequel

25 June 15:00 (LT)

The Pedra Sidequel premiered in 2017, marking the 21st anniversary of the founding of Macau’s performing arts group Comuna de Pedra. It was directed by Hong Kong choreographer Dick Wong. The group’s president, Jenny, invited Dick to collaborate in a bid to bring new sparks to the work. The connection they developed ran far beyond the performance that lasted just over an hour. In 2016, one year before the premiere, Dick attended The Moment, Comuna de Pedra’s 20th anniversary performance. He also received a copy of the group’s 20th anniversary booklet, Pedra Anchorage – 20 Years of Comuna de Pedra, containing a timeline of the group’s milestones over the past two decades. Looking at the list of hard facts reminded Dick of 0382, a piece he directed for Zuni Icosahedron several years prior. He felt the format could be adapted for a new creation featuring three second-generation members of Comuna de Pedra. While the timeline of hard facts is the official story, what is tangible and varies by individuals is the sidequel. Be it the 2017 premiere featuring three performers or the 2022 solo staged reading, the work juxtaposes, examines and reconciles the relationships between the group, the individual, and society. However, the reconciliation regarding time, history, and personal struggles, and the reconciliation between individuals, time and events all occur offstage, bearing witness to the power of theatre.

Ms Jenny MOK

Jenny Mok Sin-teng is a director, actor, and the president of Comuna de Pedra. She is also the founder and artistic director of Todos Fest!.

She is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of Hong Kong. She is a graduate of École LASSAAD - International School of Theatre in Brussels, Belgium. In 2007, she graduated from the University of Macau, majoring in English. Since her first experience with performing arts at the age of 17, she has been active in the field with a particular interest in cross-cultural productions. She has collaborated with various local and overseas theatre groups and has directed and performed overseas a number of times, including in Hong Kong, Beijing, Nanjing, Taiwan, Thailand, France, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Brazil and more. In 2021, she founded Macau’s first inclusive arts festival Todos Fest!. In 2014, her directorial work The Mute Quire won Best International Performance at the Galway Fringe Festival in Ireland. She worked as the director of the opening of Parade through Macao, Latin City. Since 2006, she has directed and written more than 30 works.

Thematic Talk 5

Dynamizing the Archive through Documentation, Creation and Promotion: A Case Study of Centre 42 Singapore

26 June 14:30 (LT)

Ms MA Yanling (SG) – General Manager, Centre 42 Limited. Singapore

Thematic Talk 6 - Ms CHOW Ling-Chih

Exploring History from a Future Perspective—archival reading and curatorial consciousness in “Dialectic”, a NTCH’s 35th anniversary series

26 June 15:00 (LT)

Beginning with its form, the memory of art presents an intriguing dialectic. Cross-disciplinary archives have an important place in contemporary creative practice, where artistic formats are utilised to transform and interpret knowledge in a new light, creating through performance works of art that are subsequently archived. On the other hand, contemporary art documents are the results of recognising, analysing, extending, defining, and questioning an artwork in terms of its artistic quality and position. It is an act of retrieving from a plethora of information what is worth recording at the moment and giving it a particular format of presentation. Alternatively, it is an act of constructing the history of an artwork. Through cross-reconstruction, new archival content and framework is created; it generates meaning as a dialogue in the present, and it embodies both a duty and a response to history.

Works of art are, by nature, art. However, they can be turned into archives, and they can be reproduced in parts as documents and installations where certain elements of their original formats are lost, such as the liveness of a performance that is born of the interactions between theatre space, actors, sound and lighting. It is an essential aesthetic attribute of the performing arts. When a work is reproduced or recreated as an art document, it illuminates what is distorted and lost. Curiously, the unique ephemerality of the performing arts is given an opportunity to manifest itself through documentation in a way that is detached from the temporality of the performance, and it acquires a covertness that stems from the state of being non-present and incomplete. This opens up an important perspective for rethinking art documents, particularly performing arts documents.

However, when turning an artwork into archival material, there is the risk of exalting or diminishing the intrinsic quality of the work. It lends a legendary dimension to the work while extinguishing its aura; the legendary is born as the aura is destroyed. This points to the lure of, and danger in, approaching an archive—an entity bound by limits in terms of materiality and definition—at the levels of interpretation and making associations. In this sense, revisiting the archive is an act of questioning and a discussion on form and the life of art. The more we probe into an archive, the more we are beguiled by its elusiveness. The archive is illuminated against what is missing and forgotten, as it calls forth further connections and mutual enrichment. In art documents, we look for possible ways to examine history and the reader’s consciousness; it allows us to ponder how things work and what is forgotten in the documents, and where vocabulary and meaning fall short or become crystalised. It is also an exploration into how documents may be autonomous and inter-related at the same time.

Ms CHOW Ling-Chih

Chow is a curator, art critic, dramaturg, writer, and lecturer in aesthetics and creative practice. She is a part-time assistant professor at the Department of Theatrical Design and Technology and School of Dance at the Taipei National University of the Arts. She coordinates projects for books and magazines and organises talks and workshops. She has participated in various arts festivals, exhibitions, performing arts creations, and research projects of different teams and institutions.

In recent years, she has served as the curator of the anniversary celebrations of the Tainan Municipal Cultural Center in 2023 and 2024; consultant and creative workshop organiser and instructor of “Circus” for the Taipei Performing Arts Center in 2022 and 2023; curator of “Dialectical” for the 35th anniversary of the National Theater and Concert Hall in 2022; curator of the Tainan Arts Festival in 2019 and 2020; curator of “Metamorphosis of Time” for the Songshan Creative and Culture Park Lab in 2018; research coordinator of “Dancing in Autumn” for the National Theater and Concert Hall in 2017; consultant of “Innovation Series Dance” for the National Theater and Concert Hall in 2018; and curator of The Story of Keelung – “Berth” and “Guesthouse of Tide Hearing” in 2017 and 2018.

Photo: Shen Sheng-Syun

All time references are Hong Kong time
LT = Lecture Theatre (CYT LT1A)