Award Recipients  |  2020

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The Distinguished Achievement Award is presented to Daniel Yeung in recognition of his immense contribution to dance in Hong Kong as performer, choreographer, critic, mentor, and curator.

Like many outstanding artists, Yeung is a maverick.

After graduating in Fine Art and Music from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, he drifted into the dance field accidentally and soon developed a passion for the art form, with a unique approach stemming from his visual arts background which led him to see dance as a way to create live sculpture on the stage. He received a scholarship to study choreography in the Netherlands and when he returned as an independent dance artist at the age of thirtyone, he received different local awards and international nominations and quickly became established as one of Hong Kong's leading dancer/choreographers - a remarkable feat for someone who started dancing late and with no formal training.

The extraordinary range of Yeung's creative work bears the stamp of his constantly enquiring intelligence. His achievements include pioneering the incorporation of multi-media into dance, developing environmental dance in Hong Kong through brilliant use of alternative space and celebrating a multitude of genres from contemporary dance to pole dancing, as well as championing and revitalizing Southern China's unique Lion Dance heritage.

He has consistently played a key role in supporting the local dance community in many different ways, whether as a mentor to emerging artists, director of the Hong Kong Dance Exchange Festival or in his new role as the Chairman of Hong Kong Arts Development Council Dance Group.

He is an ideal role model for established and aspiring dance artists, not only for his enthusiasm and dedication to dance but for his integrity, warmth and generosity as a human being.

The Hong Kong Dance Award for Outstanding Choreography is presented to Helen Lai. Her profound cultural knowledge and her understanding of the music turned Winterreise in Winterreise · The Rite of Spring into an immaculate fusion of music, poetry and dance; pianist, singer and dancers. The strong contrast and tension generated by the movement of the singer around the stage and the flow of the dancers formed an organic whole, while the mesmerising choreography and arrangement of the ten segments created a powerful portrayal of a lonely journey through life.

The Hong Kong Dance Award for Outstanding Choreography is presented to Ricky Hu and Yuh Egami for Hong Kong Ballet's The Rite of Spring in HK Ballet X HK Phil: The Rite of Spring. Undeterred by following in so many great choreographers' footsteps, Hu and Egami have come up with a boldly original concept, The Rite of Spring for our time which addresses the destruction of nature by humanity. The intensely musical choreography responds magnificently to the rhythmic complexity and changing moods of Stravinsky's score, moving from the haunting delicacy of the opening bars, with the dancers' legs growing like tendrils from the earth, to the overwhelming power of the nightmarish climax.

The Tom Brown Emerging Choreographer Award is presented to Alice Ma. Ma's work consistently surprises audiences and her choreography and movement ideas are continually developing. Her solo pieces are particularly outstanding, presenting a uniquely female perspective on how the body is viewed and judged through clear, expressive movements. These elements, combined with strong expression of character and brilliant utilization of props and sound design reveal her exceptional potential as a choreographer. 

The Hong Kong Dance Award for Large Venue Production is presented to City Contemporary Dance Company for Winterreise · The Rite of Spring. This double bill by Helen Lai, including the first local revival of her iconic The Rite of Spring in over 20 years plus a new creation, Winterreise was a triumph for Lai, the company and the whole creative team. The production moved seamlessly from the sombre intimacy of Schubert to the dazzling theatrical boldness of Stravinsky, bringing together choreography, design, dancing and live music of the highest order. A tour de force.

The Hong Kong Dance Award for Medium Venue Production is presented to City Contemporary Dance Company for Re-Mark. The dancers' powerful movements, filled with emotion, vividly reflected the situation of the city at that moment and the choreography perfectly matched the artistic statement. The stage of The Box at Freespace, West Kowloon Cultural District, was utilised to the full: the huge tree trunk lying in the middle, the mottled hangings at the back and the three round mirrors suspended in front combined to evoke a compressed city, while different levels of performing space and distance created well-constructed viewing angles. The choreography and the overall design were both outstanding.

The Hong Kong Dance Award for Small Venue Production is presented to Hong Kong Dance Company for Jing. This '8/F Platform' studio production shows that small venue doesn't have to mean small scale. It achieves spectacular effects with minimal means through the brilliantly imaginative use of a huge swathe of fabric which serves as backcloth, floor cloth and scenery, enhanced by superb lighting. Stripped to near nakedness, the dancers perform with raw power and total commitment to a score which ranges from gentle notes of birdsong to driving electronic turmoil. Experimental dance theatre at its best.

The Hong Kong Dance Award for Small Venue Production is presented to ArtisTree and Hook Dance Theatre for ArtisTree Selects: Moving Pieces – Hook Dance Theatre Stay/Away. The work offered a synthesis of exhibition and performance ― the kinetic installations exhibited during the day became the set and props of the performance at night. Movable and transformable kinetic installations were used to change the audience perspectives as well as the performing space itself. The interactive relationship formed between moving dancers, installations and audience created an organic performing and viewing experience through the combination of performance, space and audience.

The Hong Kong Dance Award for Outstanding Alternative Space Production is presented to the Hong Kong Arts Development Council for Daniel Yeung Contempo Lion Dance in the JOCKEY CLUB New Arts Power series. Created by Daniel Yeung and Kwok's Lion Kung-Fu and Lion Dragon Dance Team, this re-imagining of the traditional Southern Chinese Lion Dance makes brilliantly inventive use of the historic Haw Par Mansion, both indoors and outdoors. Packed with breath-taking feats of skill and daring and revealing new aspects of the location itself, this is a stellar example of how non-conventional performing venues can bring a new dimension to performance and vice-versa.

The Hong Kong Dance Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Dancer is presented to Luis Cabrera for his performance in Hong Kong Ballet's The Rite of Spring in HK Ballet X HK Phil: The Rite of Spring. The energy and athleticism of Cabrera's dancing are electrifying, with an outstanding combination of power and plasticity in his solos, strength and assurance in his partnering. Above all, this is a supremely expressive performance which encapsulates the work's intensity and brings home its bleak vision of the future, as Cabrera becomes the symbol of humankind's tragic progress from unthinking arrogance and brutality to the powerlessness, terror and despair of the poignant ending.

The Hong Kong Dance Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Dancer is presented to Qiao Yang for her performance in City Contemporary Dance Company's Almost 55. Always an outstanding artist, Qiao has reached perhaps her greatest heights in the Indian summer of her career – watching her dance it's impossible to believe that she's indeed almost 55 years old. The flexibility of her body and her control of movement are nothing short of mesmerising and this solo show reveals new acting skills, adding the dimension of the spoken word to her performance as she looks back over her life in dance.

The Hong Kong Dance Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance is presented to City Contemporary Dance Company for Winterreise · The Rite of Spring. This deeply felt and superbly executed performance of two radically different works brought together company members, guest dancers and musicians, many of whom had never appeared together before. Their ability to create an organic whole, interweaving music with dance and theatre, is truly an outstanding achievement and epitomizes what an ensemble performance should be.

The Hong Kong Dance Award for Outstanding Lighting Design is presented to Lawmanray for Winterreise in Winterreise · The Rite of Spring. Lawmanray's outstanding lighting design vividly evoked the desolation of winter. Adapting the lighting for each different scene, he transformed the same set and space into different seasons and times, bringing a range of moods and emotions to the stage. This was an ideal example of how a lighting design can be simple yet stunningly effective.

The Hong Kong Dance Award for Outstanding Costume Design is presented to Tim Yip for his costumes for Hong Kong Ballet's The Great Gatsby. Yip's designs vividly evoke the contrasting worlds inhabited by Scott Fitzgerald's characters, from the cool, elegant white outfits of the Buchanans in their Long Island mansion to the gaudy glad rags of Myrtle Wilson and the dingy work clothes of her husband in the Valley of Ashes. When it comes to Gatsby's legendary parties, Yip surpasses himself with a dazzling array of gorgeous, glittering evening clothes which bring the glamour of the Roaring Twenties to life before our eyes.

The Hong Kong Dance Award for Outstanding Sound Design is presented to Leung Po-wing for Over-master in The 47th Hong Kong Arts Festival: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Contemporary Dance Series Dance Off. Rearranging and editing a well-known piece of classical music and alternating it with different sound effects, Leung's sound design successfully generated the appropriate atmosphere and conveyed the theme of the piece – 'manipulation'. The classical re-arrangement matched the metaphor of the conductor as well as the psychological changes portrayed by the dancer, creating an organic relationship between dance and sound.

The Hong Kong Dance Award for Outstanding Dance Education or Community Dance is presented to City Contemporary Dance Company for Jockey Club Contemporary Dance Literacy and Learning Project. This, the first year of a three-year pioneer mult idisciplinary project, included interact ive performances at more than 60 primary and secondary schools, together with a series of guided appreciation sessions on dance productions and experimental workshops. This important project gives a wide range of students and teachers the opportunity to participate in, experience, and gain appreciation of the art of contemporary dance, often for the first time, through lively and entertaining learning.

The Hong Kong Dance Award for Outstanding Services to Dance is presented to City Contemporary Dance Company for Research Project — Oral History of Hong Kong Dance Development. Researchers Joanna Lee Hoiyin and Lam Heyee, spent almost two years conducting, transcribing and analysing interviews in Hong Kong, the US and Canada with ten pioneers of local dance. The book The Unspoken Dance: An Oral History of Hong Kong Dance (1950s-70s) is an invaluable record of the cultural history of Hong Kong dance, preserving the recollections and observations of these key contributors to the development of dance as an art form in our city and inspiring our empathy and understanding for their achievements.