A Stitch in Time: City Contemporary Dance Company’s Artistic Director Yuri Ng Talks About Upcycling

CITY CONTEMPORARY DANCE COMPANY'S ARTISTIC DIRECTOR YURI NG TALKS ABOUT UPCYCLING

Forgotten and stored away are countless sets and costumes from years past, a reality amongst performing arts companies that is all too common. Redefining the way design elements are created and used in productions is City Contemporary Dance Company’s (CCDC) Artistic Director Yuri Ng.

With not a moment to waste, Yuri has put tremendous devotion into his projects, plans and initiatives for CCDC since being appointed as the new Artistic Director. Some of which include the possibility of working with the Tai Po Arts Centre, West Kowloon Cultural District, creating opportunities for Resident Artists, and his latest passion project known as the upcycling project, or the “Kiss My Artistic Sustainable Stage” as Yuri calls it (but this is not the official name).

Yuri is trying to develop a system where the costumes, sets, and props created for CCDC’s productions are recyclable or sustainable. Whether it’s using existing materials, fabrics, old costumes, or creating collapsible sets that can be stored easily, he’s got big ideas which he continuously experiments with to explore new possibilities.

How did CCDC’s costume upcycling project come about?

It began when I was working with Linda at the wardrobe [department] for one of our previous productions, and realised “How interesting, you have kept all these costumes for 40 years”.

At some point I realised that there were a lot of sequined costumes, so I wanted to hear the stories behind these.

Perhaps she wanted to see if one of these days, these costumes would sort of come back to life.

When the productions are gone, the chance of recycling or having these costumes go back on stage would be very slim.

Once the productions are gone, the costumes just go into storage. So I thought, “why don’t we do something with it?”

We invited some designers, costume and fashion designers to join hands with me, and we made one of a kind costumes for the dancers for the upcoming season. Not for any production, but more like an exploration between the designers and the dancers. They would pick pieces from a few different shows. They might find the fabric interesting, or the colour interesting. They will use what they have selected and make costumes for these dancers as an art piece. We will take pictures and hopefully you can see how designers see the body, and see movement. It’s really a conversation between the two parties.

I think it’s very meaningful, because designers usually serve the choreographer. They make something according to the choreographer’s wishes. And I think if they can communicate directly with the dancers and make something with them, not just for them, I wonder what that would be like?

How they see the bodies, movement, how they see space and time. I think the flow of the costume tells a lot about the concept of time. Extra long sleeves for example, Kay’s costume [the designer of the apparel in this interview] has an extra long sleeve, is it for play, is it for an extension?

Being a costume designer, dancer, & choreographer yourself, how have you been involved in the process of the costume upcycling project?

I have chosen three—well I didn’t choose because everyone had priority to choose what they liked. So fate brought them to me. I noticed in the old days they still wore ballet tights. Girls used to wear pink tights for productions, they used to wear leotards and all that in the 70s and early 80s. Of course, they are not in fashion anymore. They have been sitting there, a lot of them, tons of them! I’m going to do something with these pink tights, you know they are more like knit, not lycra. I want to turn it into a different kind of fabric, but I can’t tell you what I’m doing now. I’m experimenting now, so you will see then.

The point is that they are very useless, of course you can wear them, but nobody wants to wear them because they are not in perfect condition. They are deemed useless. So I want to make something out of it. The forgotten or the undervalued. I really think that there is still potential.

Speaking of dance costumes, the history of CCDC is woven into the fabric of the pieces. What are the stories you can tell us about some of the upcycled costumes?

One example is I have a yellow dress, which is a deconstruction of an old costume from the early 80s that Willy Tsao choreographed, and designed by Wong Kam-Kong a prolific actor, designer, and writer. We knew that he hand painted these costumes. It’s a big yellow cape, huge! It’s very epic. There are many of these pieces. And I said, “could we make a dress out of it?” We can make a Dior inspired, new look. You know, with the waist? I wanted to create a new look.

We opened the fabric of the costume which is hand painted. We turned to the back of it and there were newspaper printings, because he used to put newspaper on the table to hand paint it [the costume]. He painted a wall. One side is with the white and black paint, and the back side of it is plain yellow. So we use the whole entire piece of this costume to make this, and the hat is old, from another production, we trimmed it. That was a lot of fun, because it tested Linda’s patience and her sense of cutting the fabric to make the best of the pattern. And we made a mockup with another fabric, so we could fit the dancers first and then we cut it with this yellow costume. Even the underskirt is from an old costume, and old tutu.

How do you hope this project will impact the development of dance, design, art and performance?

I think I will start with this company, I will start with the wardrobe, I will start with people who work closely with me. I don’t know how far we can go, I don’t know that I am trying to change other people. I want to try and change the people who are next to me, not necessarily “change”, because sometimes I hear from Linda that she says “Good that you’re using these, I wanted choreographers to use these old costumes for a long time, but no one seems to want to do that”. I think that the idea is not new, you just have to try and identify these people who are willing to just band together and then make it work. Then eventually it might inspire other designers, maybe inspire high school teachers who can make the best of their stock.

It’s not just money saving, actually it’s not really money saving. It’s more artistic, or so that our minds keep being creative. We don’t just wear the old costumes, we try to make something out of it. I want people who don’t believe they’re dead. There must be somewhere, a point where we can sort of crack and pry open a brighter future. But I can’t do it alone. I feel it’s the right time to do that, because I have been wanting to do this. And suddenly, I see there are a lot more people who actually are doing it, so let’s get together!

With new and upcoming dancers and choreographers who have emerged in the company, how have they shifted or reshaped CCDC?

The last program we did was called Project NEXT Wave. Three up-and-coming choreographers worked with the dancers of the company who are about the same age as they are. So I guess they communicate more

directly. Common background, common sense of value, or habits. Of course there are dancers from China, from Hong Kong and their backgrounds are slightly different, but it doesn’t mean that they cannot work together. All the young moving flexible bodies, they can always communicate without having said too much.

And I notice that they try to overcome their obstacles, their way. They will talk about it more openly than me.

Time is crucial, whether we can spend time for both parties. I think that will make a difference, I think if we spend time on it, it will grow organically. And there are a lot of young choreographers who need to work with professional dancers. When I say need, it’s that their potential has not been fully explored yet because they don’t have a big group of dancers who can work with them full-time for four weeks or something like that. And if they have the opportunities to do that, I think we can see different things from them. We should provide that, we should work with them, it’s both ways. I was given chances by Willy, by CCDC, I was able to do anything I’d like and I sort of want to continue this generosity or his vision. At least in those days, it was his vision.

I still think there are ways to share things, besides money. And the way to share things, is not just by putting shows on stage. There are a lot more; the internet, dance films, some other projects, some residencies, and just by plainly taking classes, we can give classes, we can just sit and talk. We do productions, productions, productions! And we do it because we need to tell people how much we have done. We forget about the growth of the artists is of first and foremost importance. If the artists don’t grow, they don’t become something.

It takes time. I tell you, it’s so easy for me to just lay it out, but when it comes stepby-step I need a lot of support from the people I work with. I think it also has something to do with the system, our habits too. You do this and it’s not bringing in audiences, if there are only three people attending, only the three artists are benefitting from it. So is it worth spending that time, or that budget? Sometimes I will encounter this, I’m sure. But what’s got to be done, has got to be done. I still believe in what I see is the possibility of these people.

Stitching together artifacts from the past to upcycle a new future for CCDC, Yuri Ng brings such creativity and positivity to his visions and endeavours. Be sure to catch CCDC’s one week residency at West Kowloon’s Freespace in December 2020. Preparing three programs, this exciting project is all about being watched in this day and age of surveillance cameras and CCTV. Taking new risks, and opening Hong Kong’s contemporary dance stage to new possibilities CCDC has an exciting line-up of projects ahead!