Dancers Tempered by Age｜Interview with Jennifer Mok and Qiao Yang

Credit: CCDC | Photography: CCDC & Ho Siu-bun

Text & Photography: Ho Siu-bun | Translated by: Inkers

When it comes to Hong Kong’s choreographers, other than Mui Cheuk Yin and Yuri Ng, who else can you name? “Compared to these forerunners, who have made their names for so long, we are somewhat stuck in the middle. With the twenty-something dancers upcoming, what can those of us in our mid-thirties do?” said dance artist Jennifer Mok.

Jennifer joined the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts when she was 17. After graduation, she spent seven years at the City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC) as a full-time dancer before going solo. This time, she has returned to CCDC to choreograph Days are Numbered, and to dance with veteran Qiao Yang in a 10-minute duet. What Jennifer wants to find the most is her place, as someone entering middle adulthood, in Hong Kong’s dance scene today. 

Middle-Generation Dancers

Credit: CCDC

As the first programme of CCDC’s 2021 season, Days are Numbered features three middle-generation dance artists each choreographing a piece. The pieces are Justyne Li’s Ode to Joy, Jennifer Mok’s Sophie’s Garden, and Bruce Wong’s Listen Carefully. The name of the programme is “42. 36. 42” in Chinese, which represents the respective ages of the choreographers. Jennifer is 36, and is the youngest of the three. “Age is important to Asian dancers, especially those in Chinese dance and ballet. Most dancers retire around 30 years old,” said Jennifer. “The boundary is less defined for contemporary dance, but age is a challenge to performers nonetheless. When you reach that boundary, what should you do?”

She said for someone like her, who has been active in the dance scene and who has been dancing and creating, doing what she believes in, “Why does it seem that the whole middle generation has disappeared for a period of time? Does that happen in every industry?”

Speaking of the origins of the programme, Jennifer said: “When Yuri (Yuri Ng, the fourth Artistic Director of CCDC) came to me, he suggested that I collaborate with Qiao Yang and create a dance piece for her, saying it should be an interesting experience. Qiao Yang and I worked together for seven years at CCDC and we even appeared on stage three times as roles of mother and daughter. We share a special affinity.” At first, Yuri suggested Jennifer choreograph a solo dance for Qiao Yang. But once Jennifer started choreographing on her own and trying different movements, Jennifer and Qiao Yang created something unexpected. “I was always asking ‘why’ and it really bothered her,” said Jennifer. “To her, what I asked were not the real issues that we needed to focus on; but I wanted to find the answers. As we practised longer and longer, even she wanted to find the answers. It was originally going to be a solo dance, but she later said, ‘let’s dance together!’”

What Qiao Yang Had to Give Up

The piece is called Sophie’s Garden. “Sophie” is Qiao Yang’s English name, and the “garden” refers to Jennifer. When they dance together, Qian Yang dances within a circle, but is unable to break out of it. Jennifer, on the other hand, dances in another small circle. The two’s movements are different, yet they interact with each other as they dance.

Credit: CCDC

Jennifer said the circle was part of her original creation, and she kept it when she changed the dance from a solo into a duet. “Qiao Yang dances within the circle. My joining the dance is to respond to her movements and to dance with her. When I returned to CCDC, I found that the place had changed; it has become both familiar and alien. The setting is the same, yet the people are different. As I thought about the changes, many questions popped up in my mind, such as: I have been dancing the same way for so long, what other possibilities can there be? How else should we define dancing?” In the end, Jennifer decided to respond to Qiao Yang’s movements with dance. “I do not dance the way I usually do; I just react to her using everyday movements.” It is an honest exchange between the two. Qiao Yang said she has never danced in a circle like this in her decades-long career. This is a first.

When Jennifer created this dance, she thought of Qiao Yang’s upbringing and used it as a starting point. Qiao Yang is a Shaanxi native, who took up contemporary dance when she was 23. She joined CCDC in 1996 and has been dancing for almost 30 years. She is now 57 years old, but is still in fabulous shape. Jennifer observed that Qiao Yang is very mindful of her physical condition for art and for extending her artistic life. She wakes up early, sleeps early, and sticks to a routine; but she has had to give up a lot in the process: “Few young dancers can manage themselves like this. Qiao Yang is the only one in the company who can do it. Also, her stage presence is spectacular. She is the only one in the company who can achieve it, as well.”

Qiao Yang smiled, and said every dancer has their own characteristics: “My characteristic is that I do not have any. I just love the stage.” She wakes up at 6:30 a.m. every morning and finishes preparing for the 9:30 a.m. class at 9 a.m. She attends the hour-and-a-half long class every morning, and she has been following this routine for almost 20 years without ever tiring of it.

“The difference between my age and the other dancers’ is huge, ridiculously huge. Many of them were born in 1998, and I was born in 1964. I am around 10 years older than the older dancers and over 30 years older than the young ones. But there is no generation gap between us!” When asked if there is any difference in her stage performance given the gap in experience, Qiao Yang replied: “Well, of course my condition is not the same as before. But it is precisely because of my experience that I know how to take care of my body, and what I lack. It is not that the youngsters are not good, but there are just too many distractions out there.”

She Never Thought She Would Dance for 30 Years

“I never thought I would dance this long,” Qiao Yang confessed about spending half her life on stage. Soon after she was born, in 1964, the Cultural Revolution began. She started learning Chinese dance when she was 12. Because of her good physical condition, the teachers just let her be: “My body was flexible, so I never suffered any punishment.” Qiao Yang recalled that she loved to move when she was a child, and she felt happy when she danced. Before long, she was sent to the Baoji Singing & Dancing Troupe. “Because of the Cultural Revolution, my sisters were sent to the countryside, and life was tough. My parents did not want me to follow that path. They preferred that I learnt to dance. Besides, I was earning RMB 18 a month when I was only 12. It was quite something. Even my dad was earning just RMB 40 a month!”

When she was 23, Qiao Yang learnt that some Americans were in Guangdong and were going to open contemporary dance classes. They were recruiting students nationwide. “I knew Chinese dance and I knew ballet. But what was this contemporary dance about?” She grew curious. So, she quit her job and headed to Guangdong, leaving everything behind.

Qiao Yang was accepted right away, and it opened up a whole new world for her. “I felt liberated once I learnt contemporary dance. With traditional dance, the movements were largely defined, but now I could express myself freely. Chinese dance often confines the dancer and ignores their personality. And there is no need to smile in contemporary dance! That is very cool. I can be at ease. I do not like to smile on stage.” In contemporary dance, Qiao Yang found herself.

As Willy Tsao, the founder of CCDC, was also the artistic advisor of Guangdong Modern Dance Company, he often went to their performances. That was how Qiao Yang met her husband, who was the administrative director of CCDC at the time. The two were married in 1994, and she came to Hong Kong that same year, when she was 30. She joined CCDC in 1996: “There were many girls back then, some later got married and some had children. I never thought I would go on and dance for some 20+ years.”

Yet, dancing is strenuous. Once a dancer reaches a certain age, they begin to choreograph and fade from the stage. Qiao Yang opted for the tougher path and danced on. But to her, this was a simple and natural choice: “I do not like to choreograph, t There is too much pressure when choreographing. Jennifer often cries while she choreographs.” She added that choreography and teaching are about passing on one’s expertise and knowledge, which can be highly taxing. “It calls for great responsibility. I would rather do yoga and build upon my skill set. Otherwise, if people come and watch you at CCDC and find that you have stayed the same, they will stop coming. That’s why I must keep learning, for there is no end in learning.” Qiao Yang has tried teaching classes as a guest teacher, but she prefers teaching young people privately on how to care for their bodies.

The Choreographer Faces Her Challenges

Jennifer also admitted that dancing was all she ever wanted when she was small, and that choreography was never part of the plan. “Right from the beginning, I knew I wanted to be a dancer. Later, I learnt to teach, as I knew that was what I needed to do as I grew older. When I joined CCDC, I had many questions. Even when I left to focus on (dance) creation, it was not because I had a burning desire to do so. One time, Jacky Yu of the E-Side Dance Company asked me what I wanted to do after I left CCDC, and I casually answered, ‘I want to choreograph!’ I did not realise he would then give me my first chance.”

Credit: CCDC

That was how Jennifer began creating. She was glad she made the shift, because it allowed her to look at dancing from a different perspective. Jennifer’s return to CCDC this time also involved a different identity, with the need to change a solo dance into a duet. All this placed Jennifer under tremendous stress. Indeed, she was distressed just the week before the interview. “Last week, I started crying the moment Qiao Yang came to me. I told her the dance piece had to be changed again. I was not like that every time, it was just because I also needed to dance, and I am not a strong performer who can dance and still see the full picture. Also, I need to respond to Qiao Yang’s movements, and over half of the dance is improvised. That was too much for me. I also needed to estimate our distance and our energy that day to decide how to react.” All these demands she placed on herself became a tremendous burden.

To an artist, what is it to be 36 years old? Jennifer said she has never been ambitious, because she always had different work to do – she just choreographed or danced as the occasion demanded; “I will just figure it out later” had been her answer to life. But the experience this time has had a profound impact on her: “Maybe I really should focus on something. Perhaps it has to do with age. Sometimes when I wake up, I feel that time is running out. But how? I cannot tell.”

Jennifer has pondered the question of what middle-generation dancers can do for some time. With the experience of Days are Numbered, she may just find the answers soon enough.