YAF: Good Afternoon, and welcome to the YAF studio.

Today is the 19th of October 2013, and we are joined by choreographer Siobhan Dumigan, and our dancer-choreographers Christine He from Germany, Sharman Ko and Jasmine Kong from Hong Kong, to talk about their upcoming dance performance, “If Walls Could Talk”.

It will be performed at the Peninsula Hotel Lobby on the 27th of October, Sunday, at 2:30, 3:30 and 4:30pm.

午安! 歡迎來到香港青年藝術協會的排練室。今日是十月十九日, 我們邀請到編舞鄧悠韻 (Siobhan), 以及幾位編舞-舞者，包括來自德國的Christine He, 來自香港的高舜雯(Sharman)和江思倍 (Jasmine) ，來講述她們的舞蹈表演，<<聽牆說話兒>>。

表演日期和時間是十月二十七日(星期日) 的下午兩點半、三點半和四點半。

YAF: Siobhan, can you tell us more about this project, your inspiration and how you used these inspirations in creating “If Walls Could Talk”?

悠韻, 可否講述一下這個表演及你的靈感來源?你如何用這些靈感創造<<聽牆說話兒>>？

Siobhan: Yes, sure. I watched lots of the Peninsula short films online, and the words that came out to me were “elegant”, “breath taking”, “timeless”, “unique”, and “welcoming”. So I used these words and I gave them as trigger words to the dancers and to myself to create movement for the piece. And from there, we used all the different choreographic devices to create the piece as a whole.

當然可以。我在網上看了很多有關半島酒店的短片，聯想到的詞彙是「優雅」、「嘆為觀止」、「歷久彌新」、「獨特」和「親切」。我就利用這些詞彙來啓發舞蹈員和自己去創作舞步，然後運用不同的編舞方式完成一個完整的創作。

YAF: OK. So I understand that the dancers themselves also play a big role in the creative process and that’s quite unusual. So Siobhan and Christine, can you tell us more about that experience, your inspiration and how these were used in the dance?

據我所知，舞蹈員在創作過程中都佔一個很重要的部份，這是很特別。悠韻和Christine, 可否講述一下這次經驗和靈感?如何運用於此舞蹈中？

Christine: Siobhan first gave us a lot of inspiration to work with to create our own movement.

The first question she asked us was what makes us unique, and then [to] think about that and create some little dance phrase. So we really put our own personalities into those phrases.

悠韻給了我們很多靈感來啓發我們所創作的舞步。她首先問我們有什麽是令我們獨特? 然後以此來創作幾支舞段。所以我們真的將自己的性格放入舞中。

And then she later also gave us some pictures of a woman under water with a beautiful, floating dress, and long hair, as inspiration for us to create our own movement sequences. And I think those pictures had something very calm and elegant about them.

And…for me, the feelings they portrayed perfectly matches with the atmosphere of the music and the Peninsula itself.

之後，她又給了我們一些圖片。圖片中有一位在水中穿著美麗、浮游裙子的長髮女人，也成為舞步創作的靈感。我認為這些圖片有一種平靜和優雅的特質，對於我來說，這些感覺是完全表達到音樂和半島酒店的氣氛。

The song we are using is also [a] very light, beautiful piano piece and has many silent parts in it. It’s like pausing for start or deep breath and starts again… I could really, really well, imagine someone playing this song on a piano in the Peninsula.

我們用的音樂也是一首很輕快和優美的琴曲，當中有許多無聲的部分，有如暫停來重新啓動或深呼吸後再開始…我真的能想像有人在半島酒店彈這首歌。

YAF: I see, I see. And Siobhan?
原來如此。悠韻呢？

Siobhan: I think it’s very important for dancers to have input in the piece. I feel that the dancers always perform better when the movement has come out of their bodies. The piece is more genuine as the movement belongs to everyone. And…there is also a sense of achievement. And… I think we just work better as a team and the outcome is more genuine and more connected to each and everyone of the dancers.

我認為舞蹈員在作品中加入自己的創作非常重要。我覺得當動作是來自舞蹈員自己的身體，他們會表現得更好。作品也會變得更真摯，因為動作是屬於大家的…而且也會培育一種成功感…我想合作令我們做得更好，而出來的效果也更真摯，更能聯繫到每一個舞者。

YAF: Right. What about you, Jasmine and Sharman?
對呀。那思倍和舜雯呢？

Sharman: When I listen to the music, it’s really soft and it has the name---this performance is called “If Walls Could Talk”. And my inspiration is that, it seems like I need to catch the energy or something from the wall,or… I need to express the feeling…so at the beginning, we all need to reach [for] something. Yes.

當我聽了這柔和的音樂，而得知此表演名為「聽牆說話兒」時，我覺得自己好像要捕捉牆內的能量或一些東西…而我就要表達這種感覺…所以一開始的時候，我們都要伸手去捕捉一些東西…

YAF: Could you define what that was, or…?
你能具體形容這是什麼嗎，還是…?

Sharman: Something…something like energy from the wall, and we need to pull them, or catch them.
這東西…彷彿是來自牆內的能量，而我們要將它拉出來, 或捕捉它。

YAF: And Jasmine?
思倍呢？

Jasmine: I think my inspiration is quite similar to Christine’s. My inspiration comes from the choreographer, Siobhan, and the material she gave us. At the first eight counts she asked us to create something which can represent our personality and characteristics. I wanted to create something powerful at first, but after I listen to the music I tried to change it to a more soft and smooth one.

我覺得我的靈感同Christine差不多，來自編舞悠韻和她給我們的素材。頭一個八拍，她叫我們創作一段有關自己的性格和特質的舞蹈。起初我想創作一些強勁的舞步，但聽過音樂以後，我就嘗試令它更柔軟和流暢。

YAF: So you had to sort of change your personality to suit the music?
所以你要改變你的性格去適應音樂?

Jasmine: But actually I think everyone maybe has two faces of personalities. So I think that is me also!
其實我覺得每個人的性格都有兩面--這也是我呢！

YAF: …that is you also! Great. And Christine, you’ve danced both in Hong Kong and abroad, presumably in Germany where you come from. Can you tell us a little bit more about your experience?

原來這也代表到你! 好。Christine, 你在香港和外國都跳過舞，大概在家鄉德國都有跳。可以分享一些你的經驗嗎?

Christine: In the past, I danced more with professional dancers.

But actually it’s not a big difference because those YAF kids and teenagers, sometimes they are even more professional—their attitude, because they always want to give their best each time and are truly excited to work towards the performance… and I really enjoy how we work together and how we help and support each other.

以前，我大多數是同專業舞者一起跳舞的。

但今次與YAF的小朋友和年青人合作實際上沒有太大分別，有時甚至他們的態度更專業，因為他們每次都想做得最好，而且會為準備表演而感到興奮…我很享受我們之間的合作、互相幫忙和支持。

And with the different age groups, that’s the only thing that’s maybe different to my other work— like really, really young kids, and a few older ones like up to 20-something.

So it’s quite a big difference also in the level of dance experience. For me this is really challenging, but it is a good process, to bring everyone together and have this kind of performance where everyone puts their own movement inside, so everyone can do it, and to create something together, so we can learn from each other.

這裡有很多不同的年齡組別—這可能是唯一與我以前的工作有所不同的地方，由年齡很小的至二十幾歲的都有，所以以跳舞的經驗來說是有很大差距。

對我來說這是一個挑戰，但大家聚在一起，一同設計舞步，是一個很好的過程—大家都能做到，能一起創作，互相學習。

YAF: So nothing difficult working with the younger kids…
那麼，同較年輕的小朋友合作沒有太大難度吧…

Christine: Uh…actually it’s not difficult because they’re really into working in this; they really want to make this happen. So…

其實不難，因為他們都很投入，好想做好這件事…所以…

YAF: OK, great. And did you encounter any difficulties on the way and how did you solve them?
太好了。那麼，你自己有沒有遇到任何難處，而你是怎樣解決呢？

Christine: Since we had only four rehearsals to create such a long piece…
由於我們只得四次排練去創作一段頗長的作品…

YAF: Only four rehearsals?
只得四次排練?

Christine: Yea
對呀

YAF: Wow…
嘩…

Christine: Yea.. really short actually… normally for such a long piece, a fifteen minute piece, you would maybe work on it for a few months and then a few times a week, but now we just really have a short time, so everyone really needs to be on time and every time [everyone] needs to be prepared, and knows what happened last time.

But I think Siobhan did a really good job because she was totally prepared herself and knew exactly what she wanted to do and was leading us towards this goal.

對呀…其實時間真的很短…通常一支長達十五分鐘的舞蹈都要用上幾個月時間，而且每週要練幾次。但現在我們只得很少的時間，所以每個人在每次排練都必須準時，而且要準備就緒，要知道上次綵排了什麼。

但我覺得悠韻做得很好，因為她做了充足的準，而且很清楚知道自己想做什麼才去帶領我們達到目標。

YAF: Great. Sharman and Siobhan, you both worked on two other Peninsula projects before. Can you tell us about those other projects that you did, and in what ways this project was different from those other two projects?

好。舜雯和悠韻，你們倆都曾參與過兩個半島酒店的表演。可以分享一下那些項目，和它們與今次有什麼分別嗎？

Siobhan: The first piece that I did for the Peninsula was with [choreographer] Giselle [Liu], and the piece was called Enchantment… Enchantment Majesteux, and I feel like it’s very similar and different to my piece in lots of ways.

It’s kind of like the yin and yang of the interpretation of the Peninsula. So her piece, you know, was dark, [yet] it’s still elegant, still timeless, and a little bit more angular; whereas my piece is light, a little bit more flowing.

我參與的第一個表演是跟[編舞] Giselle [Liu]的 <<Enchantment>>… <<Enchantment Majesteux>> 。我覺得它與我的作品在很多方面都很相似，同時也很不同; 可說是對半島酒店有如陰陽兩面的演譯。她的作品是黑暗的，但同時也很優雅、歷久彌新的，而且棱角分明; 而我的作品是比較輕型，較為流動的。

And then I also did [director] Lindsey [McAlister’s] piece, ‘Tea for Two’, and that’s completely different! That was like flashmob, very high energy… but all good interpretations of the Peninsula.

之後我也參與了麥蓮茜導演的作品 ‘Tea for Two’—這是完全不同的！它像快閃舞，非常活潑…不過全部作品都是對半島洒店很好的演譯。

YAF: And, Sharman?
舜雯呢?

Sharman: OK. My first piece in the Peninsula was “From 1928”… a totally different…

呀。我第一個在半島酒店的作品是「從1928」… 也完全不同…

YAF: Oh, that was choreographed by Kirsten [Ho], right?
啊…這是賀倩瑩編的，對嗎?

Sharman: Yes, it’s totally different. It’s about construct—build[ing] a factory, build[ing] the buildings, so everyone needs to work, work, work at that century; so our movement also is something like ‘work hard’, and machines, the movement was strict and the music is strong… yes…

對呀…是完全不同…這是有關建設--建立一間工廠，建立高樓大廈…那個時代大家都要工作、工作、工作;所以大家的動作都是有關努力工作及機器; 而動作則較為嚴謹，音樂也較強勁…對…

YAF: And was there anything interesting or particularly challenging that you encountered on the way, Siobhan?

悠韻，有沒有遇到什麼有趣或富挑戰性的事情?
Siobhan: Yes. Kirsten must be a very smart girl because we had very similar ideas! (laughter)

有呀! 倩瑩一定非常聰明，因為我們的概念是非常相似的!(笑聲)

So yes..I went to see “From 1928”, and I was like ‘oops!’ that’s very similar to my idea so I had to change my idea and change my music, but I think that’s completely  fine because I feel like it’s a blessing in disguise and it pushed my piece along.

I knew we only had 4 rehearsals, so I changed my music, but I think the music suits the Peninsula and my piece better, and the concept also suits better… so, yea…

我看了<<從1928>>之後，發現「哎呀!」那跟我的想法很相似，所以我要改變我的構思和音樂，但我覺得這完全沒問題，因為我覺得這是因禍得福，令我的作品更上一層樓。

我知道我們只得四次排練，所以我轉了音樂，亦覺得此音樂更適合我的作品和半島酒店，概念也較適合…

YAF: What about Jasmine, you look like you encountered some difficulties on the way (laughter) based on your facial expression…

思倍，你呢? 按照你的表情你好像有遇到一些困難…

Jasmine: Maybe I had some difficulty in my first rehearsal because I don’t know what kind of concept that Siobhan wanted to create, and… I don’t have many experiences in choreographing something before, and if I don’t have any idea I think I will try to observe other dancers or follow Siobhan’s instructions and try to focus on the music and relax myself to come up with some new ideas…

可能在第一次排練會遇到一些困難，因為我不知道悠韻的創作概念是什麼…而我以前沒有很多編舞的經驗…當我沒有頭緒的時候，我就會觀察其他舞者或跟隨悠韻的指示和盡量集中在音樂裡，放鬆自己去發掘一些新思路…

YAF: So have you ever created a piece in the way that you created this project, and how did you feel about it this time?

你之前有沒有用近似的方式去創作? 而你有甚麽感受呢?

Jasmine: I did create some short pieces in YAF before, like Arts in the Park and Point-to-point site-specific dance, and I think this time, I have… feel more mature in creating something— and I can really create something in a short period of time now.

我之前有同YAF創作一些較短的作品，例如「藝趣嘉年華」和「點對點」社區藝術計劃舞蹈。而我今次感覺到自己在創作方面是成熟了—真的可以在短時間內創作…

|YAF: Ok. What about outside YAF?
那在YAF之外呢?

Jasmine: No.
沒有

YAF: OK. Sharman and Jasmine, you guys are both studying in university, and yet you’re participating in this very intensive project with only four rehearsals. So how do you balance school work with rehearsals and performing?

舜雯和思倍，你們倆都在讀大學，卻也參與這緊密演出，只得四次排練。你們是怎樣平衡功課和排練演出呢?

Sharman: ok… fortunately my schoolwork is not really heavy…
幸好我的功課不是太沈重

YAF: (surprised) REALLY? You study in Hong Kong, right?
(驚訝) 真的嗎? 你是在香港讀書嗎?

Sharman: Yea…
對呀

YAF: wow!
嘩

Sharman: Yea I study in the film school, so the school work is like… creating scene work, or rehearsing, and [thus with the] performance… I can manage the time, and I feel this is the relaxation from the school work… and I dancing or practicing the dance.. so yes, I can throw out my pressure…

對呀…我正在電影學院就讀，所以功課就是創建場景或排練…所以對於今次演出，我可以管理到時間。我覺得跳舞和練習其實是一種鬆弛，可以拋開功課上的壓力…

YAF: Right…(jokingly) so I think I’m going to be applying to film school next…(laughter)
對嗎? (說笑)我也許也要報讀電影學院了! (笑聲)

YAF: What about Jasmine?
思倍呢?

Jasmine: I think I have good time management, on balancing the school work and rehearsals. Because the rehearsals usually takes place on weekends, so I don’t think it will affect my school work, and I feel relaxed after every dance rehearsal, and I can release all my stress and emotions… so I enjoy every rehearsal.

我覺得我都有良好的時間管理來平衡功課和排練，因為排練時間通常都是週末時發生，所以我覺得這不太影響我的功課。而我每次排練之後都覺得輕鬆多了，可以釋放我所有的壓力和情緒…所以我都很享受每一次排練。

YAF: Great! And do you guys have any tips for young performers to manage [their] time, even Siobhan and Christine, I’m sure you’ve been through that phase where, you know, when you’re young, and you have school and dancing.. so was there anything—

太好了。那麼你們有沒有一些給年輕表演者管埋時間的秘訣呢? 或者悠韻和Christine都可以分享一下，相信你們都經歷過這個階段，年青人又要讀書又要跳舞……有沒有—

Siobhan: DON’T PROCRASTINATE! (laughter)
千萬不要拖延……

YAF: That’s a good advice!
這是一個很好的忠告!

Siobhan: Yes! I used to do that a lot. But, …
對啊…我以前都經常有這個壞習慣…不過…

Sharman: And I think we need to make a to-do list, and don’t be lazy!
我認為可以寫一些備忘錄，和不要偷懶!

Siobhan: Yea, so even if, I think, you don’t make a to-do list but you know everything you need to do, as long as you don’t procrastinate I think you can get through everything that you need to do during the day, especially at night time.

對呀…就算你沒有備忘錄但你清楚自己需要做的事，只要不拖延就可以在每天內做到所有事，尤其是夜晚。

YAF: Great! So Siobhan earlier told us the five words that inspired this piece. So what about the rest of you—Christine, Sharman and Jasmine?

好的。悠韻早前告訢了我們啓發了此作品的五個詞彙。那麽其他人呢—Christine, 舜雯和思倍?

Christine: For me, those five words for sure would also be “elegant”, and “flowing”, “classical”, “light” and “dreamy”.

對我來說這五個字也是「優雅」、「流動」、「輕柔」、「古典」和「夢幻」。

YAF: oo.. dreamy
啊…夢幻的…

Sharman: I think it is “gentle”, “gorgeous”, “team work”, “creativity’ and ‘pure’.
我覺得作品是「温柔」、「華麗」、「團隊合作」、「創意」和「純潔」。

YAF: Pure. Ok.
「純潔」。很好。

Jasmine: The five words that come up in my mind would be, ‘statue’, ‘jelly’, ‘classic’, ‘elegant’ and ‘slow’.

浮現在我腦海的五個字是「雕塑」、「啫喱」、「經典」、「優雅」和「緩慢」。

YAF: I like ‘jelly’! (laughter)
我喜歡「啫喱」!(笑聲)

YAF: Thank you very much, girls! ‘If Walls Could Talk’ will be performed at the Peninsula Hotel on the 27th of October, Sunday, 2:30, 3:30 and 4:30pm. We hope to see you there!

Learn more about the [Peninsula] project on our website, www.hkyaf.wordpress.com. We look forward to hearing from everyone soon!

多謝各位! “聽牆說話兒” 將於十月二十七日的下午兩點半、三點半及四點半在半島酒店大堂演出! 到時見！

有關[半島酒店的]詳情你也可以瀏覽我們的網站www.hkyaf.wordpress.com。 期待大家的分享!

Everyone: Bye!!
再見!!