LEE CHAM-KAU has had some unusual requests lately: a set that dismantles and reassembles itself like a transformer, a whirlwind and a waterproof stage.
'It's not so much the ideas but the time I'm given to realise them in that's a little tricky,' says the assistant production manager of the City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC). 'I'll have maybe a couple of days to test the ideas on site. But this has always been the case when we hire government-run venues. We have no access to them until a week before the show begins. But I've drawn sketches and built models so I could start preparing - albeit only on paper.'
This week, Lee and his team will be stationed at the Hong Kong City Hall Theatre figuring out how they can mechanically control a mobile stage set for one of two new CCDC productions, Iron and Silk, choreographed by Jacky Yu Yan-wah and Helen Lai Hoi-ling.
At the end of next month they'll move to Kwai Tsing Theatre Auditorium to set up the stage for another CCDC production, Feng.Shui by independent choreographers Daniel Yeung Chun-kwong and Mui Cheuk-yin.
Yeung's piece is about wind (feng), which is why he wants a mini-whirlwind spinning across the stage. Mui's work is about water (shui), and she plans to flood the stage with it. 'I've yet to find a way to waterproof the entire stage floor so that whatever lies underneath doesn't get short-circuited,' says Lee.
Hong Kong contemporary dance has moved up a gear. It's no longer just about body language, but also technical wizardry. In the two new CCDC productions, the focus is as much on choreography as it is on set design and technology.
