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Kevin Kwong

Firecracker
Hong Kong Ballet
Just as Christmas would not be  the same without The Nutcracker, choreographer Yuri Ng Yue-lit's contemporary take on the  classic, Firecracker, is becoming  a staple  of  Lunar New Year celebrations.
The work, first performed in 1997, was updated  for the Hong Kong Ballet in 2010, with help from troupe dancer Yuh Egami.  Excerpts were also performed at the  Shanghai Expo  that year and it is now heading to Macau to herald in the Year of the Dragon. 
Based on the popular score  by Tchaikovsky,  Firecracker is, according to Ng,   family entertainment. In this adaptation, the protagonist is no longer  a little girl but an  elderly uncle who reminisces about  the days before firecrackers were banned in  Hong Kong. 
Ng says that beneath the narrative lies an exploration of more abstract subjects such as Chinese values and traditions. 
Ng and Egami say they have been 'fine-tuning' the ballet because they have both grown artistically since the work's last full run.
 'Another reason is that the faces of the Hong Kong Ballet have changed since 2010,' Egami says. 
He says that when touring productions, it is necessary to tweak the choreography in order to accommodate the technical requirements of a new venue. 
'It's always interesting to see your own production again after a certain period of time because it allows you to see it as if from  a third party's view,'  the dancer says. 
'A week ago, we sat together  and watched [the 2010 version of] Firecracker, which we believed was the final version at that time, and  we were able to critique it and, eventually, came up with three pages filled with small and big ideas to improve  the upcoming version  in Macau.'
The two choreographers are interested to see how the audience in Macau will receive their work. After all, while firecrackers  have been banned in Hong Kong since the 1960s (because of their association with the  riots at  that time), they are a core part of Lunar New Year celebrations in Macau.  
'This piece will enable us to  observe how other audiences grasp the history and culture of Hong Kong,' Ng says.     
Jan 20-21, 8pm, Macau Cultural Centre, HK$180. Inquiries: 2380 5083



Firecracker