Stepping into a New Year

Happy New Year, YAFies! We hope everyone had a great holiday after the very fruitful last months of 2013! We talked to some of the YAF performers Tracy Tam, Kimberly Rawthorne and Lily Ng from our recent 2013 projects – hopefully that will get you excited for what is coming ahead!

祝各位YAFies新年快樂! 經過2013年很充實的幾個月後,希望大家都在假期得到休息, 準備迎接一個精采的2014年! 我們採訪了上年度參與YAF的表演者Tracy, Kimberly 和 Lily, 一起期待2014!!

Project 項目名稱 : “If Walls Could Talk” 聽牆說話兒 2013

Firstly, let’s welcome the elegant and graceful dancer, Tracy Lidwina Tam (譚凱螢)…

I’ve always enjoyed being a dancer as I think dancers use their soul and movements to communicate rather than words. Especially when I am dancing to music with no lyrics, all I can do is feel the music and transfer my energy and the message I would like to deliver into every part of me.

我很享受當舞者的感覺，因為舞者能夠用不同渠道與人溝通，以靈魂和動作來代替說話。特別是伴著純音樂跳舞的時候，更講求舞者將希望傳達的訊息轉化為能量，再注入身體的每一個部分。

What I learnt from this project…

“If Walls Could Talk” was a really melodic and elegant piece of work. I learnt how to control my muscles in order to give intensity to my dance moves which were performed to slow music. I love the idea that dancers can present their own character in the choreography. This dance symbolized how The Peninsula serves and reaches out to people from all over the world and from different cultures throughout these 85 years.

“聽牆說話兒”是一個富旋律性而優雅的作品，從這個計劃我學會了如何控制身體的每一個部分去讓慢的舞步亦充滿張力。我很喜歡將各個舞者的性格融入在舞蹈裏面這個概念，因為這樣的編舞就像象徵著半島酒店八十五年來歡迎了來自各國，有著不同文化的賓客。

What I thought about this project…

This project was really exciting and fun. There are always lots to learn from every HKYAF project, and I am really glad I met some new friends with a similar interest through this project.

我很榮幸能夠參與這個計劃。參加香港青年藝術協會的活動總能帶給我不同的收獲，而這次最難得的就是遇到一群志同道合的朋友。

Next, we have the energetic and youthful Kimberly Rawthorne…

About the choreography…

I really loved the choreography in the dance because it was my style which is contemporary/ lyrical. This made me extremely excited and enthusiastic to learn and perform this piece at The Peninsula. I loved how soft and elegant the dance was and how it really captured the elegance and class of The Peninsula!

我很喜歡這次編舞，因為它是當代舞，亦正正是我的跳舞風格; 所以我很興奮可以在半島酒店表演這個作品。它既柔軟又優稚，真正表達到半島洒店的高雅情調!

Our costumes…

Our costumes had a big part in portraying the elegance as all the dresses were pretty and flowed and draped really nicely. I feel like the performance was a great success because I thought we all portrayed the emotion of the music perfectly so it made the piece really believable and showed the audience that we were really engrossed in the music.

為了表現出半島的優雅氣質，我們的表演服裝也很重要–所有裙子裙裾飄飄，都很漂亮。我認為今次的表演是非常成功的，因為大家都很充分表現出音樂的情調﹔，讓觀眾感受到我們是完全投入在音樂裡面。

What I learnt from this project…

During this project, I learnt to really exaggerate emotion and body movement as the music was quite slow and if the movements weren’t exaggerated, audience members wouldn’t be captured by the moment.

A big challenge we had to overcome was the fact that we only had 4 rehearsals! We had to be super professional and really listen and pay attention to the choreography Siobhan gave us.

Even though I was shy, I asked so many questions about the detail of the movement because it would be best to know the choreography back to front as the dance was 12 minutes long, which made me super nervous!

透過是次表演, 我學會了怎樣強調身體的動作及表情，因為音樂的節奏是徧慢的。若不把動作誇大，觀眾就不能投入在那一刻的舞蹈中。

另一個挑戰就是我們只得四次短短的排練!大家都要好專業，留心學習編舞鄧悠韻給我們的舞步和指示。

雖然我很害羞， 但我仍然問了很多有關某些動作細節的問題，才能完全地熟練這支舞蹈╴因為這段舞長達十二分鐘，所以都令我十分緊張!

 How I learnt about YAF…

I first knew about YAF when the details of auditions of Godspell were on my school bulletin board. I signed up and I was so excited because I had been waiting for a dance opportunity forever! There were soo many amazing dancers at the audition!

Even though I didn’t get in, I was still excited for my future with YAF. I auditioned for theMardi Gras Arts in the Park 2012 and got in! Arts in the Park was by far my favourite memory because I got to meet many amazing dancers, and perform in front of so many people!

Last year, I got into Arts in the Park 2013 and The Peninsula 85th Anniversary Performance. I’m really excited and looking forward to what the future holds for me with YAF.

我第一次接觸YAF是在學校壁報見到<<福音>>音樂劇的遴選通告。我很興奮並馬上報名，因為我一直期待一個跳舞的機會!遴選中有很多出色的舞者!

雖然我最後沒有入圍，但我仍然為我與YAF的未來感到興奮。我之後於2012年面試並入選了<<藝趣嘉年華>>!我從中認識了很多出色的舞者，並一起在很多觀眾面前表演!

上年我就參加了<<藝趣嘉年華2013>>和半島酒店85週年的演出。我很期待將來再與YAF一起合作。

Last but not least, the enthusiastic and versatile, Lily Ng Lai Yin …

It was my pleasure to have been invited to join the performance for the 85th anniversary of the Peninsula Hotel.

When I first learnt about the name of the dance, “If Walls Could Talk”, I had totally no idea what the dance would look like. Therefore, I attended the first rehearsal feeling very excited. Thanks to the inspiration we received from our choreographer Siobhan Dumigan, the steps created by us different dancers were combined into an elegant and beautiful dance piece. I loved and enjoyed being part of the performance.

能夠參與半島酒店85週年的表演項目，我感到很榮幸。

最初知道舞蹈名稱為《聽牆說話兒》時，我想像不到這會是甚麼風格的舞蹈，所以我懷著既興奮又緊張的心情出席首次排練。幸好有Siobhan的靈感和啟發，所有舞蹈員都創作了一些舞步，並拼湊成高貴又漂亮的舞蹈作品。而我最想說的是，我很喜愛及享受這次表演。

My YAF experience…

I joined YAF as a dancer during my secondary school life after watching a great musical presented by YAF. I have since joined different YAF dance productions, such as Arts in the Park, Point to Point site-specific dance. I loved being part of all the productions.

In 2012, I wasn’t able to take part as my freshman year at university was too busy. However last year, I joined Arts in the Park again and it was so heartwarming that YAF staff and choreographers still remembered me so well even though we had not seen each other for a year. To me, YAF as not just a performing platform, but also a big family.

在中學時期，當我看過YAF製作的音樂劇後，我覺得好精彩，於是就開始以舞蹈員身份參加yaf的表演。

我曾經參與過不同的舞蹈表演，例如是點對點環境舞蹈創作，藝趣嘉年華等，這些舞蹈作品我都很喜歡。

前年因為初升大學，未能抽時間參與YAF的製作，但上年我再一次參與藝趣嘉年華的表演。當我來面試的時候，YAF的工作人員和編舞的親切問候，真的令我感到好溫暖，沒想到，一年沒有見，他們仍然記得我關心我。對我來說，YAF除了是一個表演平台外，還是一個大家庭。