A classic takes flight

Thanks to a gripping storyline and numerous television, big screen and comic book adaptations since the 1960s, The Return of the Condor Heroes is one of the best-known titles from Louis Cha's Condor Trilogy martial arts novel series. Next week, the Hong Kong Dance Company will take the epic tale of love and revenge to the stage, with a new and unusual twist.

Choreographer and artistic director Leung Kwok-shing has opted for a non-linear narrative for the dance drama, titled Eagle Companions. The two-hour show, to be staged at the Cultural Centre Grand Theatre, will start at the halfway point in the novel then return to the beginning in the second act, using flashbacks.

'The drama opens at a climatic point when consuming passion turns love into hate and how one would make sacrifices for love,' says Leung. 'I'm less interested in the storytelling than I am in fleshing out a cast of characters entangled in a web of emotions such as love, jealousy and anger.'

Eagle Companions revolves around Yang Guo and his teacher, the beautiful Xiaolongnu. Although they develop mutual feelings, their master-disciple status forbids them from falling in love. Their relationship is further tested by Guo Fu, Yang Guo's reckless childhood friend who both loves and despises him, and Xiaolongnu's elder disciple sister, Li Mochou, who is bitter after being jilted.

Leung says the major challenge in choreographing Cha's tale is articulating the depth of the characters and their relationships through movement. 'For example, Guo Fu's stubbornness is interpreted through the toughness of her movement, while more abstract concepts, such as making a sacrifice, are expressed in dramatic dance vocabulary,' says Leung.

Principal dancers Su Shu and Liu Yinghong say their lead roles are technically and dramatically demanding. Liu says Yang Guo is smart and loyal but arrogant. 'Portraying a hero is not difficult,' he says, 'but to play one with flaws is interesting because the character has more dimensions.'

Su says Xiaolongnu is an intriguing character because her personality is hard to read. 'Because she bottles up everything inside, there is nothing about her that is striking. You can say she has no character ... so to characterise her is something of a challenge,' Su says.