Jeers, cheers and a three-step plan to conquer the twirl stage
'The Hong Kong Ballet Company has really grown from being a local company to an international company,' says board chairman Cissy Pao Watari at a recent press conference. It's not the sort of thing a firmly established ballet might feel the need to say, but it suggests that the city's pre-eminent dance group is on the cusp of change in its 25th year.
Last month, the HKB, as it's known, made three major announcements that demonstrate its desire to acquire the requisite trappings of a prominent ballet: a well-known artistic director; overseas tours; and signature ballets.
First of all, it added two years to the contract of Stephen Jeffries, who has been artistic director since 1996 and was recently named one of the world's top 20 art directors by Dance Europe magazine readers.
Second, it will premiere its Chinese-themed ballet, Legend of the Great Archer, on March 26. This production was written, choreographed and is being directed by Jeffries, a former principal dancer with London's Royal Ballet. Jeffries was so determined to make Legend his own show that he even helped with costume design and the composition of the original score by Kuan Nai-chung.
Finally, the HKB and the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra will take the ballet on a tour of North America in May, as part of the government's Relaunch Hong Kong campaign.
So, how far has the HKB come? On the plus side, the technical standards of the 44 dancers have improved considerably, with several excellent principal dancers, such as Nobuo Fujino. Another dancer, Eriko Ochiai, took one of the 2004 Hong Kong Dance Awards on March 1. The company has increased its number of performances and audiences are responding reasonably well; the average local attendance for the past year was 70.5 per cent. And the HKB has toured the mainland extensively, as well as Singapore, North America and Germany, and received some good reviews.
Canada's Globe and Mail called the company 'a rising star on the international dance circuit'. Similarly, Financial Times dance critic Clement Crisp, reviewing the HKB's Nutcracker in December, wrote: 'Jefferies ... has built a well-mannered and enthusiastic ensemble - the dance is as vital and aspiring as its city.'
The HKB has also addressed one of the main issues raised in the past by critics: the failure to recruit more dancers from the mainland. In December, it announced the addition of 11 dancers, most from China.
A major criticism of the company is that its Chinese-themed ballets are choreographed by overseas contributors who don't seem attuned to Chinese or local culture.
'It is time for the Hong Kong Ballet to give more commissions to local choreographers to benefit the local dance community,' says Stephen Kwok, founding chairman of the Hong Kong Dance Federation. 'The western choreographers couldn't give the ballets a right Chinese flavour and, as a result, the new works are neither here nor there - neither genuinely western nor genuinely Chinese.'
Obvious choices would be Helen Lai or Yuri Ng, two of the best-known Hong Kong choreographers. Ng's Rite of Spring, performed at last year's Hong Kong Arts Festival, won two 2004 Hong Kong Dance Awards. He has created only two short ballets for the HKB in the past eight years.
'We work with choreographers who have a track record on full-length works,' says HKB chief Helen Ng. 'Choreographers who have worked with international companies.'
Given the criticism, Jeffries' own interpretation of a Chinese legend seems like a risky move - something the ballet company is aware of. 'People have asked, 'How can a gweilo do a Chinese piece'?' Helen Ng joked at a recent press conference. 'Jeffries spoke to many people who know Chinese history ... At first, we were worried this production would be difficult, because the composer, Kwan, only speaks Chinese, and Jeffries does not. But the collaboration went well.'
'I spoke to many Chinese intellectuals about this story,' Jeffries says. 'And none of them could agree on one interpretation, so I decided to just use the story as a loose framework.' He calls the end product 'a bit of a sexy romp, a sexy drama'.
There have also been criticisms of the HKB's international repertoire. Michael Wang, a former HKB principal dancer, who left a year ago after 10 years with the company, says he regretted the lack of famous ballets.
'I think it's a great pity we cannot dance any masterpiece by Balanchine,' he says. 'We were not dancing enough international masterworks to enrich our dancing experience. The repertory has become narrower.'
George Balanchine, the most famous choreographer of the past century, has not been part of the HKB's line-up since Jeffries took over. This subject is coming to a head this year, the 100th anniversary of his birth. Most of the world's major ballets have already performed works by the Russian-American master, but the HKB has nothing planned except a possible staging of Apollo in 2005.
Some critics say well-known classical works such as Balanchine's, as well as ballets from leading international contemporary choreographers, would help educate the public. 'It would be better to acquire one or two outstanding works by European choreographers like William Forsythe or Nacho Duato,' says Wang. Duato has just performed in Hong Kong at the invitation of the Arts Festival, which did not include performances from the HKB.
While the HKB has undeniably progressed under Jeffries, the test will be whether he can find the right balance of local and foreign, old and new, to satisfy Hong Kong audiences.
