Editor’s Note
This May, as a guest at one of Michelle Ong’s First Initiative Foundation fundraisers, I had the pleasure of watching a live performance at City Hall by the celebrated pianist Niu Niu and the French cellist Laurent Perrin, the first time I’ve stepped into a crowded theatre in more than a year. It was obviously a scaled back affair, but even the act of finding my seat and waiting for the concert to begin was thrilling. Stumbling around on a humid night after the show in search of a taxi, along with hundreds of other guests, strangely felt like a delight.
As Hong Kong’s cultural and performing arts slowly come back to life—with the success of virtual gallerists hosting “satellite” booths at Art Basel in Hong Kong, and dazzling new performances by the Hong Kong Ballet— there is finally something of a “scene” on which to report in these pages. As events and galas return, it’s important to note that we have made the decision to cover them as they happen, faithfully and respectfully, including publishing many images of guests wearing facemasks. We wanted to create an accurate record of what our world looked like in this particularly complicated moment of history, even if the results might not always look familiar or even glamorous. In fact, my experiences at FIF, at Art Basel and the ballet were fabulous, and not just because of seeing so many familiar (and yes, still recognisable) faces, but because the act of coming together is really the one thing that defines society, and isn’t that what is all about?
Janice Chan-choy, a board member of the Hong Kong Ballet, seemed to experience something similar upon the opening of Septime Webre’s latest production of the Balanchine classic that featured international performers, like the Brazilian dancer Daniel Camargo, who underwent a 21-day quarantine in order to appear in the show. “I cannot imagine how dancers must feel when they cannot perform on stage,” Chan-choy said. “When the curtains finally opened, you could see the sparkle not only on the dancers’ costumes, but also in their eyes, smiles, fingers and toes.” Associate features editor Zabrina Lo and I had a chance to go behind the scenes and meet Camargo prior to the production, and were delighted to hear about his newfound perspective on dance after coming to Asia, and what it must have been like practising all alone for those three weeks.
Throughout this issue, you will find more revealing stories about people who are producing new artistic works, including a profile of Christopher Doyle, the legendary Hong Kong cinematographer and Wong Kar-wai collaborator who is the subject of a new documentary, and an in-depth look at the emerging phenomenon of voguing in China, and why it is attracting diverse audiences now, more than three decades since the “house” culture of New York City was put on the map by the documentary Paris is Burning.
One reason is the embrace of self-expression, but equally important is the desire to be a part of something bigger—and that, of course, is a scene.