Elephant Magic with Desiree Ho

This month, YAF is working with Pacific Place and Swire Properties to bring a whole host of workshops and storytelling sessions as part of the Elephant Parade! We sit down for a long chat with Desiree Ho, who is our resident storyteller at Pacific Place. These storytelling sessions are perfect for 3 - 8 year olds and are FREE! So if you are interested, check out the schedule and sign up now - spaces are filling up very quickly!

Desiree, please tell us about yourself!
Hi everyone! I’m Desiree Ho and I am so thrilled to be part of the Elephant Parade 2014, which is taking place this month at Pacific Place, Cityplaza and Citygate Outlets. 

As part of the Elephant Parade, the team put together a series of fun elephant stories and facts for kids. For example, did you know that elephants have 40,000 muscles in their trunks alone? Besides the visual experience of meeting over 100 beautifully decorated, baby elephant sized statues designed by international artists, we wanted to help young children learn more about elephants and raise their awareness of conserving these great land animals. What better way to do this than through the performing arts!

In line with the spirit of the Elephant Parade, we put together a series of stories in both English and Chinese, which include: Elmer the Patchwork Elephant, Ellison the Elephant, and Stand Back, said the Elephant, I’m Going to Sneeze! They will be presented in lively story-telling sessions on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 12:30pm (English) and 3:30pm (Chinese) from now until 6 September 2014.

As a YAFie who grew up under the wings of Lindsey McAlister and the amazing YAF team, YAF is where I developed my passion and skills in the performing arts! I now work as a performing arts coordinator and choreographer with organisations such as YAF, DANCE Kho, Swire and Standard Chartered to put together performing arts projects such as dance productions and musicals. I’m really glad to be back!

What can people expect at the storytelling sessions?
When we were creating the concept for the set design, we came up with so many designs, including turning Pacific Place into a mysterious woodland forest or a magical library of books.

In the end, we decided to go with the circus backdrop design, as we thought the design and colours fit best with the Elephant Parade and Pacific Place, and will be most fun and engaging to young children. YAF staff Wendy Tsang, Yan Yick and Shek, plus designer Ada Chan have do ne a beautiful job with the set and props! It is simple yet very effective. When you enter the set, it’s easy to forget that you are actually in a shopping mall!

The costume is a beautiful yellow and green dress designed by Marsha Roddy, who has done some of the coolest set and costume designs. It has a fairytale-like quality that matches perfectly with the colour palette of our set design. I love wearing it to work every week!

Another thing I love about the story telling sessions is that they are not just children stories, but also have a positive message about accepting our differences and respecting those around us.

Out of the three storybooks, which one is your favourite and why?

Elmer the Patchwork Elephant! The story is about a multi-coloured patchwork elephant who one day grew very tired of being different from everyone else. He then decides to leave home and set out on a journey to turn himself into a grey, elephant-coloured elephant to fit in with everyone else.

The story is my favourite because it resonates with me - sometimes I do feel like a patchwork elephant myself! Professionally speaking, I didn’t actually train at a performing arts school, so most of my former classmates from university are in a different industry from what I do, and so it’s really easy to feel out of place or like you’re going in the wrong direction just because you are doing something different.  

You can say that I’m currently going through an Elmer process of finding my way of fitting in, but what I learnt from Elmer is that patchwork elephants and grey elephants can get along and live happily together if we make an effort! The key is to find that fine balance…and we have to remind ourselves to do so constantly!

I also think this is a great story to inspire kids to value and appreciate what makes them different, especially in a place like Hong Kong where kids are under a lot of pressure to fit in and be someone who complies with what is “socially acceptable” or “practical”. Again, the key is to find that balance of who you are and what is expected of you…each path has its own set of challenges and rewards, and there is no one set way to live… just have to keep on going!

The story about Elmer really hits home that it is okay to be different and learning to accept our  differences is what makes the world a more colourful place!

What’s the most magical thing you’ve learned about the elephant?
Probably the fact that elephants can communicate by vocalising low frequency seismic waves, which can travel up to 20 miles away through the ground! These waves are then felt by the other elephants using the soles of their feet, which apparently travel up their bones into their eardrums! The elephants can use this unusual communication method to warn others of danger or to let their family know where they are. What I wonder is whether other elephants can eavesdrop on these secret messages… or perhaps use these waves for other purposes, such as to find a mate?

What’s a little known fact about the elephant?
Well I have two! Apparently elephants prefer one tusk over the other, just like how humans prefer using their right hand or left hand. Another fact is that elephants are scared of bees, so farmers in Kenya would protect their farms from elephant invasions by lining the farms with beehives. This also helps them to gain extra income from selling the honey.

Your favourite elephant at the Elephant Parade?
That’s really hard to choose, as all of the elephants are so creatively decorated! Well if I have to choose, it’s probably the Mooncake Elephant by Kitipong Tamnonsri or the Delightful Durian Elephant Nat Posila & Ed Robinson…The Mandarin Elephant by Santi Takaew also comes real close! It looks like the elephants that resemble food—for obvious reasons :)