Modern dance [n] a free expressive style of dancing started in the early 20th century as a reaction to classical ballet. In recent years it has included elements not usually associated with dance, such a speech and film. – The Oxford Dictionary.
So the definition goes. But for the young and promising Daniel Yeung, winner of the Hong Kong Dance Award 2005, all those stunning effects we see on the dance stage may be a hindrance instead of a help. “People say development in art is progressing with new techniques and stage effects, but I think there are fewer great artists from generation to generation,” he comments. “In fact I think we are going backwards. We have a lot of good young dancers now, but no great artists.”

“No, it’s always like that,” retorts Lau Siu Ming, who Yeung calls the ‘dance master of all’. “A great artist is always one in a million.” Lau, 75, was the first modern Hong Kong dancer to study abroad when he worked with French choreographer Maurice Bejart in 1964. This month, he and Yeung will collaborate in My Life as a Dancer, one of the local highlights of the 35th Hong Kong Arts Festival, which gathers 16 dancer-choreographers of various styles and generations together on one stage for what promises to be an extraordinary experience.

After recently injuring his knees while filming on the mainland, Lau now cannot walk too well. Yet, he says, he wanted to be part of My Life as a Dancer as a rare and valuable chance to mix with a group of talented dancers on stage. Though at first, because of age, he only promised to host the night. “How can I dance now? I can only work within my limits,” he says. “But I don’t want the audience to feel sympathy for me. They shouldn’t.” And then with horror he projects: “They may even shout ‘Go back! Don’t come on stage!’” and jokingly threatens to smash eggs on stage if the audience doesn’t applaud him. “That is not true,” comes back Yeung, strongly of the view that Lau’s worry is unnecessary. “I think it is more like the younger generation will expect sympathy. They give themselves excuses, and say the audience should forgive them for being fresh or heavily reliant on video effects.”

On the day of this interview, the pair had only just rehearsed their contribution to the show for the first time together. It was still untitled and Lau did not want to talk about it – unless I told him how I felt about it first. And so I watched as they danced through their rough draft and saw a vigorous young dance student champing at the bit to experience the world. He invites his respected blind old master to go with him but the old man can barely walk, so the youngster tries to carry him on his back. But the power struggle between the two pulls them this way and that as the young dancer coerces his master into his colourful world while the older man constantly reprimands his student and comments on his moves. The dance is simple, yet no less moving for all that.

“It’s good that you see that, even though it is the first time we have rehearsed,” Lau says, as he explains that the piece is a reflection on life and growth to match the title of the16-dancer event. “It is not sad, but it reflects the bitterness in life,” is how Yeung sees the performance.

Which is also a touchstone for Lau and Yeung’s real-life relationship: during the rehearsal, Lau constantly stops the music and tells Yeung to start again. Sometimes he is harsh, but it is obvious the performance is with him all the time – even on questions about how he feels about the current dance scene he switches to make improvements on the new piece. Yeung quietly follows where the master leads.

“Ming Sir (a common epithet of respect for Lau) is a severe teacher, but that is how every great artist behaves,” says Yeung. Though he admits harshness doesn’t necessary lead to excellence, but says surely nothing good can come out of loose work. Yeung has always wanted to work with the master, though Lau had already turned to TV and the silver screen in the late ’60s before Yeung started his dance career. The young man had never seen Lau in action but quickly suggested teaming up with his mentor when invited to participate in My Life as a Dancer. “No one dares to work with Ming Sir, but I always believed I could work something out with him,” the award-winner says, as he respectfully offers his partner
ginseng tea.

Their little stage story also suggests the mirror-image leading to the convergence of their lives. While Lau was the first from Hong Kong to go to Europe for modern dance studies but later gave up dancing for a career in acting, Yeung was a visual arts student before devoting himself to dance. And meaningful but coincidental, the music clips Lau chose for their collaboration come from the score of Polish film director Kieslowski’s The Double Life of Veronique.

Daniel Yueng and Lau Siu Ming will join other local leading dance artists including Willy Tsao, founder of City Contemporary Dance Company and its current resident choreographic Helen Lai, Y-Space’s Victor Ma and Mandy Yim, Andy Wong, Xing Liang, Yuri Ng and Yeung Wai Mei.

HK Arts Festival 2007: My Life as a Dancer will be performed from March 23-25 at Kwai Tsing Theatre Auditorium. Shows start at 8pm. Tickets from $100-$250 are available from URBTIX, 2734 9009.