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To Infinity and Beyond with Anca Chung

Posted on 19/11/2014, BY HKYAF

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Next up in our Standard Chartered #ArtsinthePark blog series, we have choreographer Anca Chung.

Anca, tell us about your dance
To Infinity and Beyond paints a magnificent future world where clocks tick backwards and everyone time travels on the weekends.

Tell us about your dancers
My group is the youngest of all AIP dancers - aged 8 to 14 years old. I love working with them... their energy is incredibly infectious, their brains brimming full of ideas. Every Thursday evening, even though everyone is quite tired arriving to the rehearsal room (me from work, them from school), the rehearsals seem to recharge all of us. Though this definitely comes across differently…! At the end of rehearsals, I’m usually collapsed on the floor, mind buzzing with new ideas and adrenaline while furiously trying to make notes of things to try next week, while many dancers are still cartwheeling, flipping and doing aerials across the room.. I have to shoo them out!

In terms of the dance itself, I wanted them to both learn choreography and devise their own movements, so what you will see at Arts in the Park includes ideas from all 24 of us!

What inspired you?
Our dance falls under the theme “To Infinity and Beyond” which incorporates the scientific concept of time travel and artform of optical illusions.

These concepts are actually quite hard to realise on stage. I didn’t want it to be too literal, so I decided to pick four ideas that are related to these topics - the time traveller, clocks, wormholes and the moment you step into a brave new world (not related to the book). The costume by Toiling is amazing too - the alternating black and white limbs will definitely play a piece in the work.

How did you choose the music?
The first piece is actually a voiceover done by my friend Joaquin. I was chatting to him about time travel texts and poetry one night as I’ve always wanted to do a spoken-word-movement piece. A few days later, he came back to me with a recording of himself reading a piece he found (talk about complementing YAF’s spirit of ‘just make it happen!’). I was delighted as it was perfect - his voice has such gravitas, it works as a fantastic contrast against the young dancer’s movements.

The second song, I was a bit embarrassed to choose, but it works so well! I actually went around the office to see if the YAF team would recognise the song (they didn’t), but the second I played it to the dancers, they did. Let’s see how many people can figure out why the song sounds so familiar.

The final two… as Victoria Park is humongous, I wanted to find grand, epic songs to help fill up the space. This usually defaults to tracks from movies and video games.

Any challenges?
As my group is the youngest, I wanted a piece that showcases their youthful (but not childish) character, and also their sophisticated, mature side. Also, there’s a mix of abilities in the group, and so it’s about challenging the more technically trained dancers, while giving an opportunity to first-timers to shine.

Memorable moments?
I’ve never taught (or even learned!) lifts before, but as we have ‘littlies’ and ‘biggies’ for this particular piece, I thought that it would be the absolute perfect chance to do some. So I enlisted the help of DANCE Kho’s Kirsten, Takao and 3 month old Kier (definitely the youngest person I’ve had at my rehearsals), who were absolutely incredible at helping us master some tricky yet impressive (and safe) movements. Thanks DANCE Kho!

What can we expect at #ArtsinthePark?
I still remember performing at Arts in the Park more than 15 years ago (a much smaller scale back then). There really is nothing like it. An outdoor space, amongst the green, proudly performing alongside your newly made friends with Hong Kong looking on… Arts in the Park is really something very special!