The Evil Within: Hoi Ching Leung

Next up in our The Evil Within series, we have dancer Hoi Ching Leung. She will be dancing in a piece centred around the Three Witches of Macbeth, as well as a Lady Macbeth dance and monologue piece with Shimali de Silva.

Who is your favourite Shakespeare female villainous character?
Of course Lady Macbeth! 
 
Which themes are you exploring?
In the trio piece I am performing in, where I dance as one of the three witches from Macbeth, I feel that we are exploring the themes of unity and simultaneous disunity between the witches. Unity is demonstrated in the way that all three of us seem to move as one through the use of close proximity and synchronised movements. Whereas disunity is evident in our varied entrances, styles and choreography. These two contrasting themes compliment each other and are used to represent their important role in the play.

In my solo piece, in which I dance alongside Lady Macbeth (Shimali de Silva), I am exploring themes of female control and domination. My arm gestures present a recurring action of wrapping or deliberate contortion of an entity, as if I am controlling something or pulling its strings with purposeful conviction. Taking into consideration the oppression of women in Shakespeare's patriarchal time period, I would like to thank him for the apparent control or domination Lady Macbeth has over Macbeth. Her character is so prominent that she even insults his masculinity in this monologue. This is why I explore the theme of female dominance greatly in this piece.

What did you enjoy the most about this experience?
I think what I enjoyed the most about my experience is the fact that, even though I had lots of chances to perform dance before, I very rarely dance in a setting that is more involved with characters in a play. Drama has always been one of my strong qualities, and to bring more acting into dance than what is usually required is a great joy for me. Through this experience, I actually get to portray a character, or a certain situation or a moment of tension in a story. I just love the flexibility and freedom to act!
 
What did you learn from this experience?
I learnt that combining acting, singing and dancing (not necessarily in chronological order like a musical) as just one massive celebration of the arts is a great new form of performing that I really think should be used more often.
 
What were your greatest challenges?
One of my greatest challenges was that I really needed to know the story well to portray the situation and the dance accurately. To do that, I had to read through a monologue, know the story and wrap my head around the themes of the play.

Which is your favourite Shakespeare play and why?
My favourite Shakespeare play is no doubt A Midsummer Night's Dream. I love this play because it is simply and utterly ridiculous.