Chief Editor Pauline Ng shares her experiences
I am sure that my love of music makes me love dancing. It was a big regret that I didn’t learn to dance when I was a teenager. Back then, I had flexible muscles and a sharper brain that would remember every step. Even though dance naturally comes to me, I have yet to develop my skills!
This year (2019), reencountering Ms Luk Yan-mei was like a gift sent from heaven. I first met her when I was still working in the Music Office back in 1980. At the time, I followed Mrs Elizabeth Wong, former Music Administrator, in leading The Hong Kong Youth Chinese Orchestra to perform in the Middle East to introduce the art of Chinese music. We also brought along a team of talented young dancers to perform in the same show and Ms Luk was their dance teacher. Our young musicians and dancers really outdid themselves and won endless applauses everywhere they went. When the show ended, I told Ms Luk, “I should learn Chinese Dance.” She said, “Sure! I’ll wait for you.”
It took 40 years of waiting. However, as long as the passion for an art, a sport or a hobby was still there, the feeling will never die down. This may be different for interpersonal relationships, but that’s a topic I shall address at a later time.
We booked a place to start our dancing classes. It must be an easy place to book, and of course, it is best if it is specially decorated and good for dancing. Albeit, a place with a mirror, a flat floor and a carpet would suffice if it’s too difficult to find an ideal one. Learning with a few good friends makes the classes even more joyful, though I prefer private classes as I am a slow learner.
At our age, the first thing to learn is to keep a fit and healthy figure. This is very important training for me as I have been working behind the desk for many years.
I have to learn how to stand up straight, hold my head tall, keep a long neck, flatten my abdomen and hold my hips up. In Chinese dances, we act like fairies, flowers, and birds, and every time we raise our arms and make every move with our fingers and palms, we are actually acting them out in their natural beauty. After a while, I began to remind myself whenever I walked to maintain good posture. Magically, the troublesome low back pain seems to be slowly subsiding.
Ms Luk spent a lot of time on my hand motion — big waving, small waving and double hand waving, as well as the requirement for me to breath at regular pace to synchronize the body movement. This made me realize why I couldn’t sing very well, as I wasn’t breathing properly during singing. This again was really good training.
There is still a long way for me to master the art of dance, but at the end of the day, my target is not to participate in a performance or a contest, but to be able to lose myself to music and express it through my body. Music is me and I am the music!
