It takes six weeks of intensive rehearsal to prepare a full-length dance show. We peeped in on four top dance companies backstage and discovered intricate rituals after the practice had stopped but audiences weren’t quite seated.

“I always eat chocolate – I need sugar to make my brain work.”

With 30 minutes to show time, backstage at The Hong Kong Ballet Company is calm, controlled, and rhythmic. Dancers pull on costumes, brushes sweep through hair, and puffs of powder cloud the dressing room. “I enjoy making myself up, it actually makes me calm,” says senior soloist Kyoko Tomimura. Carlos Pacis, another senior, insists on his make-up being complete by the 30-minute mark for more practical reasons: “The closer to crunch time the more unsteady your hand.”

With 15 minutes to go, preparations become more varied, dancers focusing on their own particular routines. For Tomimura it’s chocolate – “I just have to have it,” she giggles, though others prefer the more soothing action of chewing gum. Pacis tends shoes stitched to his own specifications. It is essential for him to test them onstage. “Our practice shoes fit like a glove, but new shoes are like new jeans – they look good but you have to break them in,” he explains.

Chen Rong, a dancer at Hong Kong Dance Company visualises steps in his mind. Running through the piece mentally is a common practice for dancers and helps stop mounting jitters. Hiroto Saito, an HKBC junior soloist, prefers walking through stage positions to get him relaxed. “I imagine a third eye up in the ceiling can see,” he says, trusting that it will guide him in performance.

Rituals can take years to develop. They may be handed down by teachers, but for some it’s a process of trial and error, adopted from senior dancers. “I tried classes, I tried being internal, I tried everything,” stresses Pacis – it took him four years to find his satisfying routine.

And Saito spent seven years concentrating too hard, siphoning himself off from the group. “Before, I used to dance more for myself, I tried to force myself, then last October, I got tired of myself,” he says. Now he is more relaxed, laughing and chatting before a show. “I feel more confident,” he says.

The five-minute call is crucial. Tomimura takes refuge in her dressing room, says a prayer and glances at a picture of a past teacher who always inspired her. “I look at her picture, and try to remember what she said about my dancing – that’s the most important part for me.”

Without pre-curtain preparation, a performance can appear disjointed, despite weeks of heavy rehearsal. Before a show, Shen Wei, artistic director of New York’s contemporary Shen Wei Dance Arts Company, gathers his dancers and technicians into a huddle as he whispers inspiration. “It’s really quiet, really concentrated, very intense – we feel as a family,” he says. When the technicians leave, his dancers stay to complete breathing exercises together.

Most companies have no such ritual but dancers may hug and wish each other well. Saito finds it an important step to creating a good performance. “The performance cannot be done by one person alone, no matter what part you are dancing, it is a group,” he says.

Nevertheless, some dancers insist on meditating alone, though a few will break it to bid good luck to friends. For others it depends on the role. Dominic Wong of the City Contemporary Dance Company says for a serious show he needs solitude, while for an upbeat show he’ll talk to people to “keep happy”.

Tsui Tsz Yee, technical manager at HKBC, clears stretching performers off stage five minutes before curtain up. Ballerinas are renowned for practising on stage up to the very last minute, and even then carry on in the wings. Yet HKBC’s Jin Yao says as principal dancer with a character to play, she needs to be more focused and will remain alone in silence right up to performance time.

Being injured throws normal habits off course – young dancers are often embarrassed and keep ailments a secret. “Take a sprained ankle,” explains Pacis. “Two hours before a show, you’ll go out and grab your dinner, at one and a half hours you’ll apply liniment and bind [the ankle], and then you’ll lie down and try not to think about it. When you need to put on your tights, you’ll unbind it, apply more liniment and have ice nearby. These are necessary to allow enough confidence to perform.”

At HKBC, ballet dancers are still hurrying about the stage with a minute to go. Tsui has to remind them to remove legwarmers, but otherwise, she says, they are well prepared, and in her 15-year career she has never had to deal with a missing performer.

In this final minute, deep breathing is popular to build concentration and dissipate nerves, but some dancers perform last ‘must do’ duties. At the mirror, Saito fixes his hair and Pacis takes one final look at his shoes. Tomimura bends down to kiss the floor for good luck – an age-old dancer’s superstition she learnt from a favourite choreographer.

The opening bars of music cause Wong his greatest level of anxiety, while for Jin, just the opposite is true; she is still, and feels nothing, the music is her relaxation. And when the curtain rises, as junior dancers crowd to watch, they leap into the spotlight, to all looking calm, poised, serene.

The Players
Kyoko Tomimura, Carlos Pacis, Hiroto Saito and Jin Yao appear with Hong Kong Ballet Company. Currently they are rehearsing Balanchine and Beyond, a ballet in four parts featuring classical pieces by Balanchine with more recent works by Stephen Mills and the world premier of Yuri Ng’s Yeah Yeah Xi Men Qing.
13 – 15 October, tickets $130 – $280, Urbtix 2734 9009.

Chen Rong is a dancer with the Hong Kong Dance Company, which promotes traditional Chinese dance. Winner of an Alvin Ailey Dance Fellowship, he fuses handkerchief dance with African and hip hop. For enquiries contact 3103 1888.

Shen Wei is a contemporary choreographer, painter, dancer and the founder of Shen Wei Dance Arts. He makes his Hong Kong debut opening the New Vision Arts Festival with The Rite of Spring, a dance interaction with a 13 x 14 inch canvas, and Near The Terrace.
20 – 21 October, tickets $120 – $360 from Urbtix 2734 9009.

Dominic Wong dances with Hong Kong’s City Contemporary Dance Company and has toured the United States, Canada and Beijing. He has just completed the all-male Nijinsky, to critical acclaim. For enquiries contact 2326 8597.