Hong Kong youth dancers draw attention to smuggling of endangered pangolin with a powerful performance: Tipping the Scales

Art and activism can be a powerful combination. Just ask 16-year-old Hongkonger Alicia Tang.

Tang is assistant director of Tipping the Scales, a dance film by the Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation (HKYAF) that draws attention to the plight of the pangolin – the creature that has the unenviable title of the world’s most trafficked mammal.

For creative inspiration, Tang dug deep into the world of pangolins. “Pangolins have many distinct and unique characteristics and movements, such as curling up into balls as a defence mechanism, so we used these to help shape the choreography,” she says of the HKYAF film, which features the dancing of 11 girls aged between seven and 14.

Tang’s sister Caitlyn, 14, also performs in Tipping the Scales. Both are students at Chinese International School. “I was happy about the pangolin project because not many people know how endangered they are,” says Caitlyn.

There are eight species of pangolin – four in Africa and four in Asia. All are at risk of extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). “And compared to other animals, they don’t get as much coverage,” Caitlyn adds.