Man in the Mirror: An Interview with Leading Local Choreographer Sunny Wong
AN INTERVIEW WITH LEADING LOCAL CHOREOGRAPHER SUNNY WONG
A household name in Hong Kong’s dance industry, Sunny Wong’s work as a choreographer, dance teacher, and performer has been featured in numerous music concerts, music videos, and commercials. Though the spotlight is usually on the lead singers he works with, such as Aaron Kwok and Sammi Cheng, we’re turning the spotlight over to Sunny Wong as he shares his experience and expertise as a renowned choreographer.
Like every great dancer, Sunny’s love for dance was spurred by a genuine passion for movement. And for him, this passion started at the age of 5 where he was inspired by dance movies such as Grease. His real start in dance began in 1984 when TVB was hiring dancers, and sure enough Sunny was accepted! His contract began with intense training in a number of styles such as Jazz, K Pop, Latin Dance, Chinese Dance, and Tap Dance. Sunny performed on hit television shows like Enjoy Yourself Tonight, and was invited to dance as a backup dancer and eventually choreograph for these televised jobs.
Digging deep into Sunny Wong’s experience as a dancer, choreographer, and teacher, we interviewed Sunny all about Hong Kong’s fast-paced commercial dance industry.
Having worked with so many different music artists, which show challenged you the most?
The most challenging show was Aaron Kwok’s de Aa Kode. That was our first time using this innovative mechanical stage, and we had to estimate the speed and duration of these elevating platforms. It was held at the Hung Hom Coliseum, and our estimations were largely speculated since we did not get to run the moving stage systems during our rehearsal. We had to decide on the timing for dancers to come out of these cages after being elevated, and it took me the longest time to plan because I had to familiarise myself with the mechanics of the stage before I could actually calculate the timing for the different choreographic sections. That was the greatest challenge, plus I had to choreograph on fifty dancers. For that
concert, we also had to practice acrobatic circus tricks. It took us two weeks to choreograph, and we had to get people to teach us those tricks, and we couldn’t plan anything until we knew how to do those tricks. We basically had to start from zero, so I felt like that concert was the most challenging.
How does it differ when you teach choreography to the professional backup dancers versus the leading music artists?
There isn’t really a great difference, since the way I teach is the same. Actually I’m very meticulous when I choreograph, especially for dancers. I demonstrate the choreography for them first because I want them to learn from my interpretation. Sometimes dancers have this tendency to dance with their own interpretation, which is fine, but sometimes it doesn’t work for the group sequences. If there were ten people and all of them were dancing in different ways, it would only be 70% cohesive and the other 30% would be a mix of styles. Some dance numbers are meant to be clean and tidy, so a variety of movement interpretations will not work.
When I teach music artists, it depends on their preferences too. I still show them what I choreographed originally, and if they think it looks great but they are not sure if it’s achievable for them, then we’ll either try it out first or switch it up to something more doable. There always has to be a second option if the initial plan fails. The backup plan would be an edited version of the original dance, where the performer’s strengths are emphasised and their weaknesses are minimised. Or it just takes a lot of training to fix the flaws. The key things here are time and effort, and the responsibility also falls on us as choreographers too. There has to be multiple strategies, because it can be different for male and female singers. For instance two female singers could suit different contrasting styles, like one would be better in a nightgown and the other would want a Qipao. I’m almost like a tailor who finds the best fit.
How do you incorporate current dance trends into your choreography now?
Basically you’d have to be familiar with the moves first. There are different ways to bring different styles together, you could choreograph a faster sequence to a slower song, or vice versa. But you can’t just try to mix genres if the song doesn’t have that element, you can’t just forcefully add it to the dance. There was a concert where a hip hop track was added to it, so I choreographed a hip hop sequence just for that track. I couldn’t have sold the performance without that musical element. It depends on the performance really, you can’t just add whatever you like, or whatever genre that others are using, say Hip Hop or K Pop. Only when you work with the materials you work with best, will you have the icing on the cake!
As COVID-19 heavily impacted the dance industry, what did you take away from this experience?
This experience taught me that we shouldn’t take luck for granted. We have to go through ups and downs, and you have to know how to uplift yourself and hold your ground, so that you’re prepared to go uphill again when the opportunity arises. It is the ability to deal with emotions, and this applies to everyone around the world because we all need the mentality or energy to endure hardship.
People might think that I’ve been doing fine with the situation, when in fact I’ve faced my own adversity. I only had three choreographing jobs in these last two years, and my dance school was paused for half a year. So what was I up to? I was doing self-study. I decided to learn things which I never had the time for, and I also tried my best to help out dancers at my company. You have to keep in mind that time passes by quickly, and you are expecting the world to resume once again. It’s not productive to just idle and let yourself get defeated by the world, so you must gear up in preparation for a new beginning. I’m actually teaching a lot of youngsters this now because I hope the youth will carry on this philosophy.
My self-study was on my physical fitness. I’ve been trying to catch up with the needs of my job, so I’ve been working out. I am also paying a lot of attention to the news and intel, because I never had the time for it when dancing. Now I’m caught up with movies, news, and all sorts of happenings. It helps my business to know the industry, to learn the trends, to be aware of local prospects. Still, the top priority is to keep your body and health prepared. You have to be fit to confront what comes in the future. Persistence is key, and I’m not talking about useless reminders, because persistence is built by your confidence and your capability to consolidate your skills. Simply put: keep going, keep dancing.
Sunny’s Three tips to becoming a professional backup dancer:
Learn more, do more, hear more, see more. That makes four tips! One of them is given to you for free.
It’s the same old saying, but work hard! Allow more time for practice, if you sleep three hours less than others, you can make use of those extra hours to practice and get ahead of others. Don’t feel like you won’t be repaid for your efforts. My teacher told me that your return will be ten times greater than your sacrifice.
Sharing insightful expertise and advice into the competitive world of dance, Sunny Wong always strives for the next big thing and is there to help others along the way. So go and be great, and take a giant jeté of faith as you reach for your goals and dreams in dance!