Each scene of the Hong Kong Club’s Culture Night performance presented different periods of time in Hong Kong, said club leaders, starting with traditional Chinese drumming followed by the Lion Dance, Chinese Kung Fu, retro dance, modern suit dance, and ending with a Dragon Dance and light dance.
Michelle Lung, the president of the Hong Kong Club, explained, “The most unique characteristics about Hong Kong is the city itself has always been a perfect combination of British and Chinese culture. Many foreigners don’t know the difference between Hong Kong and China. The Hong Kong Club decided to act out the city’s whole transformation from an unknown British colony to an international metropolis.”
The first part of the club’s performance was the Lion Dance, which represented Hong Kong in the ancient time before it was ruled by Britain, explained Lung, a junior majoring in TESOL education.
Chris Chan, a senior from Hong Kong studying marketing, played the head part of the lion. He explained the Lion Dance has strict physical requirements for performers. “The head of the lion was heavier than others imagine. It at least weighs 10 pounds.”
Oscar Ip, a sophomore majoring in business management from Hong Kong, played the tail of the lion. Ip shared the most tiring part of his performance was the constant twisting of his hips. “In order to make the lion’s tail wave lively, I twisted my hips left and right, up and down, then again and again.”
At the end of the Lion Dance performance, Chan jumped on Ip’s knees and displayed a banner with the letters “Hong Kong” written on it. Ip and Chan both said it was the hardest part in the whole performance.
Chan said, “I couldn’t see my back and it wasn’t my job to look for the landing spot, but it was Ip who held me and put me on the right spot. All that I did was jump and trust Ip.”
Ip shared, “The whole action was done in just one short moment, but it was a moment of strength, coordination and perfect timing.”
The Lion Dance was followed by a demonstration of Wing Chun, a type of Chinese Kung Fu. Ivan Tang, the instructor of the Wing Chun team and a freshman studying computer science from Hong Kong, explained Wing Chun became famous in Hong Kong in the last century.
“We want to remind people the place where Ip Man started teaching Wing Chun was Hong Kong. Bruce Lee learned Wing Chun from Ip Man in Hong Kong. So did many other foreigners. With no doubt, Wing Chun is the most representative type of Kung Fu for Hong Kong,” said Tang.
After the Wing Chun performance, the background music changed to a Cantonese song from the ‘90s. Members of the Hong Kong Club performed a retro dance with smiles on their faces. Lung explained, “We want to tell people that at the end of the 20th century, the atmosphere in British Hong Kong was joyful. Hong Kongers were living happy lives.”
As the beats started getting faster, another group of dancers performed a modern dance with intense movements, which represented the time when Hong Kong was returned back to China.
“Hong Kong was enduring an identity crisis not knowing where they truly belonged to - Britain, China, or Hong Kong. People strived to be more hard working to find their positions on the global level. This is how the fast-paced living in Hong Kong came to be,” said Lung.
After the modern dance was the Dragon Dance and light dance. During the performance, the lights on the stage were turned off and the scene went dark. Then the LED lights on the dragon were turned on. Dancers performed a modern light dance along with the LED dragon.
According to the Hong Kong Club, when the Chinese dragon shone, it meant that Hong Kong had found its position as Pearl of the Orient. The lights also represented the night view of Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong, which is considered to be one of the top night views in the world.
Writer: Tomson Cheang