The acclaimed career of Hong Kong choreographer Yuri Ng has a twist in the tale.
For two years running, he has brought explorations of femininity to the Macau Cultural Centre through his Macau Tales series. The third instalment of his Macau Tales series shifts the focus from the fairer sex and in “THE Living ROOM”, he asks what it means to be a modern male.
It is a piece that questions stereotypes. Throughout China’s history, men have been regarded as the foundation of the family, taught to be tough and responsible. As progress challenges old roles, men’s real desires and wider responsibilities to their families and society have shifted.
Mr Ng directs a trio of Macau dancers, each pursuing a career on the international stage. There is Popeye Hung, who danced in “Confrontation” by the Istanbul Dance Theatre Company at last year’s Macau Cultural Centre Black Box series; Lok Ian San, who has danced with the Hong Kong Dance Company; and Leong Heng Un, a professional dancer in Hong Kong and recent Chinese Dance graduate.
For more than 20 years, Mr Ng has travelled the world, building a substantial international reputation. He trained in Hong Kong, Canada and Britain, winning the Adeline Genée Gold Medal from the Royal Academy of Dance in 1983, before joining The National Ballet of Canada.
He returned to Asia in 1993 and has choreographed various performances by the Hong Kong Ballet, Hong Kong Dance Company, Zuni Icosahedron, Taiwan’s Cloud Gate Dance Theatre 2, Singapore Dance Theatre and Japan’s Architanz.
Mr Ng received the Artist of the Year Award – Choreographer, from the Hong Kong Artists’ Guild in 1997 and just one year later he won the Author Prize at the Sixth International Choreographic Meetings of Seine-St-Denis in France with his choreography for “Boy Story”.

Developmental experimental
Two years ago, Mr Ng began the Macau Tale trilogy. He collaborated with the next generation of Macau dancers in “Dress, Up to Dance” and then “Have Steps, Will Travel” last year. Both performances won an overwhelming response from audiences and the dancers.
Both works stayed true to Chinese culture, using traditional Chinese and ethnic dances as their starting point before moving into experimental dance. And both works investigate the basic elements in life.
The cornerstone of the collaboration has been hosting workshops for Macau’s young dancers. The experience became the Macau Tale dance theatre series. It is a series aimed at exploring experimental dance theatre, featuring several Macau-born dancers who were invited to return to take part in the choreography and performances.
Mr Ng stays true to the formula in “THE living ROOM”, featuring the city’s male talent and the exploration of what manhood means. “THE living ROOM” is a dance-theatre play set together by brainstorming between the cast and Mr Ng, which will provoke the audience.
The third piece of the Macau Tale trilogy, “THE living ROOM” runs for two nights, on December 18 and 19, at the Small Auditorium of the Macau Cultural Centre. Tickets cost MOP100. See the centre’s website www.ccm.gov.mo for more details.

Talented trio

The three men who take centre stage in “THE Living ROOM” at the cultural centre bring experience from overseas back to Macau.

Lok Ian San
Taking part in the third part of the Macau Tale offers Lok Ian San an opportunity to get his body moving again. Lok compares himself to the newly adapted nostalgic kung-fu movie “Gallants”.
“As a dancer and artist, I should make use of different forms and re-make myself,” he said.
Lok emigrated to Macau at a young age before winning a scholarship to study at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. It was there, he says, that the four years of study constituted the “biggest challenge in his life”.
He says he learnt that “dancing is more than dancing”. He toured, including Berlin and Singapore, and in 2000, “The Current”, a work in which he performed, won the grand prize at the Prague Dance Festival.
After graduating from the school’s Chinese Dance Department in 2002, he joined the Hong Kong Dance Company and has appeared in “The Border Town” and “Angel Falls” – the former a co-production between his company and the Actors’ Family.

Popeye Hong
In a short space of time, Popeye Hong has established a significant reputation.
Hong was the first Macau resident to study at the Beijing Dance Academy, majoring in Contemporary Dance, before taking a full scholarship to study at Case Western Reserve University in the United States. He graduated last year with a Masters in Contemporary Dance.
In between completing his studies, Hong has returned to his roots, teaching contemporary dance at the Macau Conservatory.
He has now established his own dance studio in Macau, hoping to bring dance into people’s lives and to “make it more popular”.
“The ideal in life certainly is to continue to have collisions with other people, keep trying and assimilating. When you have done that, you can expand your horizons, by not being restricted to the narrow view,” he says.
Hong has participated in dance performances at the Lisbon World Expo, Beijing Dance Festival and Istanbul International Theatre Festival. He performed in “Confrontation”, a dance work in collaboration with the Istanbul Dance Theatre Company of Turkey which was invited to feature at the Macau Cultural Centre’s Black Box Theatre Series 2009.

Leung Heng Un
The handover in 1999 was a time for renewal and change. It was also a pivotal moment in Leung Heng Un’s life. He traces his relationship with dance back to joining his school dance group for the opening performance at the handover.
After completing high school he studied at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, majoring in Chinese Dance between 2002 and 2006, before going to work for Hong Kong Disneyland. Between 2008 and into this year he pursued a bachelor’s degree under a full scholarship back at the academy.
He won the second award in choreography and performance at the 7th Tao Li Cup National Dance Competition in Sichuan and has performed in several larger productions with the Hong Kong Dance Company, including “Eagle Companions”, “Lingnan Impressions” and “Qingming Riverside”.
It is Leung’s first time performing in Macau since leaving for Hong Kong. He treasures the rare opportunity to share his views on dance. “During the creative process Yuri often raises questions with me, which are great challenges and inspire ideas,” he says.