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E-Side Dance CompanyJuly 2008 Hong Kong, Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre by Natasha Rogai |
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A Showcase of Asian Dancers, staged by the E-Side Dance Company, gives seven dancers from around the region the chance to show off their performing and creative talents in short, original pieces. The idea was interesting and did give some idea of different tastes and styles within the region (the contributions from Mainland China were notably less sophisticated than those from Hong Kong and Taiwan, for instance) but the overall standard of the choreography was far from high and at times the show resembled a school performance rather than a professional production. The strongest piece, Dance Machine by Hong Kong’s Wong Tan-ki, was a lively and original mixture of tap, hiphop and balletic movement combined with clever sound effects and video (also by Wong). Witty, well thought out and skilfully performed, this demonstrated that Wong is both a fine dancer and a promising choreographer. Video was also used in Wu Yi-san’s «The 35», a simple, charming piece about the experience of having a baby. Wu, who is from Taiwan but has lived in Hong Kong for many years, was joined on stage by her husband, Goh Boon Ann (better known as City Contemporary Dance Company’s lighting designer). Tender and playful, this was a well-made piece with moments of choreographic flair and it was refreshing to see a duet amid the succession of solo pieces. Chou Shu-yi, also from Taiwan, is a dancer of exceptional plasticity and Start with the Body showed off his remarkable capacity to contort his body into startling, unsettling poses. However, this soon became repetitive as the audience waited in vain for the movement to open up or some conclusion to be reached. Mainlander Tan Hongtao’s Eggs Under the Red Flag had its creator struggling to break free from (or hatch out of) an all-enveloping red membrane. Some striking images are created as this featureless, shiny red creature writhes and thrashes about until Tan finally breaks free and leaps away with a loud cry. The other three participants – Malaysian Jay Jen Loo, Korean Kim Bo-young and Mainlander Cheng Jin - may well be good dancers, but do not seem to have grasped the idea that there is more to choreography than simply stringing movements together, be they slow and portentous (Loo) or aggressively energetic (Kim and Cheng). Lighting and stage management were handled commendably smoothly by Lee Chi-wai despite the constraints of a small and inconvenient venue. The concept (presumably the idea of the show’s Artistic Director, E-Side’s Jacky Yu) of running the dances together without a break and having all the participants take a bow together at the end was effective and diplomatically avoided any possible embarrassment in different levels of applause.
A version of this review previously appeared in the South China Morning Post.
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