almost famous: Taurus Wah Man-wai: Interview with Hong Kong Scenographer

by P.Ramakrishnan.

"The balcony scene of Romeo And Juliet held over a swimming pool where Romeo, in the water, has to look up to Juliet - high up on a diving board. Now that's a scene!" At the risk of offending every traditionalist, scholar or student, that's one of 38-year-old scenographer Taurus Wah Man-wai's visions for Shakespeare's classic play. Not that he has any intention of realising it: it is just something that plays on his mind as he works on any one of the many dance/musical/operatic dramas that are keeping him busy till the end of next year.

"When I see something on stage that's straight out of a book, exactly as written with no changes or innovation, to me, a scenographer has failed," Wah says. "In the United States, a long time ago, I saw an alternative version of Carmen, well, it was Car Man, set in a garage. Didn't like the dances, the songs, the music or anything - but the concept was good. At least it's different."

So what does a scenographer do? "Well, everything. Using the space available on stage, everything that's visible has to be placed by a scenographer. I've created costumes, worked on the lighting, props, decor, picked artists, overseen the make-up - all of it."

Wah is the man behind, above and below some of the most innovative theatrical pieces staged in Hong Kong and Europe, including the Hong Kong Dance Company's Yellow River, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's Songs Of Wanderers, and his own company Open Daily's Everything that Is Unimportant Falls Away - Arvo Part.

"I created Open Daily, which is an independent production house, because often I am restricted by budgets and other people's visions and have to mend and bend my way across to suit others. Now I can create what I want and get the people I need. Not that I don't have budget issues to deal with. Sometimes I have to pick a second choice, a third, even a fourth."

A former dancer who trained with renowned ballet teacher Joan Campbell in Hong Kong during his teens, Wah also trained and worked as an accoutant before his career changed in leaps and bounds. "I was interested in theatre, opera, the visual arts," he says. "Initially, I didn't get much encouragement from my parents, who wanted me to do something practical, to become a professional. So I did my accounting and worked in London for a year or so. I came back to Hong Kong to work in the administrative department for the Cultural Centre when it opened in the late 80s. At that time it was great - I got to meet Prince Charles, Princess Diana, which was impossible in Britain. To work with all the great international artists such as Cellist Yo-Yo Ma was wonderful."

He later met Willie Tsao Sing-yuen, of the City Contemporary Dance Company [CCDC] and subsequently became the troupe's manager. One of the founding members and resident choreographer of CCDC, Helen Lai, saw Wah's work in various departments and out of the blue asked him to create costumes for a show.

"It was extraordinary. I can't sew or stitch but I could draw and design. So I did and one thing led to another. Word got around and I worked on many shows."

His love of research, however, prompted him to postgraduate studies abroad. In 1995, he won a fellowship from the British Council and the Anglo-Hong Kong trust that led him to a master of arts in scenography at the university of Art and Design in Helsinki, Finland. Now, he is studying for a PhD in the drama department at the University of London's Goldsmith's College. His doctoral thesis is on China's Kun Opera.

His studies, however, have not stopped him from working. He is collaborating with Timmy Yip, the Oscar-winning art/set director of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, on "a grand Chinese musical along the commercial lines of an Andrew Lloyd Webber production" that will be staged tentatively next year.

He is also busy with Fetish: Stories, a physical theatre performance directed by British choreographer Robert Tannion and produced by Wah that is scheduled to play on April 26-27 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, although the dates have yet to be confirmed. With eight local dancers, the dance drama will be jaw-dropper, Wah declares. "We promise the audience an exciting experience such as they've never had before in Hong Kong theatre."

almost famous: Caroline Hu: Hong Kong filmmaker

by P.Ramakrishnan

What Caroline Hu achieved in her first foray into filmdom could be the seed that sprouts into cinematic legend. A first-year student at City University [working on her master's degree in media design and technology], Hu won the best Experimental Film award at the NYU Student Film Festival in New York in October - with her first video project. The university's alumni include Ang Lee, Martin Scorsese aand Oliver Stone.

"I was just thrilled to be in New York ," says Hu, after showing her nine-minute film at the screening room in City U's media centre. It's such a great city. I shot as much footage as possible and didn't waste my time there. At the festival, when they honoured my film, Rememberance, it was completely unexpected. I was proud and thrilled."

After completing a bachelor's degree in comparative literature at the University of Hong Kong, Hu taught English before shifting gears. "I've always been interested in cinema, the arts, literature - and this is a bit of everything. I was fed up with what I was doing. I wanted to do something practical and creative. So I embarked on a media course."

The leap of faith and academic shift paid off. "The film took about four months to make. I shot it, edited it, mixed the sound, wrote the script, typed up all the subtitles. it was a one-woman production, so its merits and its faults are all mine.

"I made the film for my Moving Image course, and when my teacher recommended that I send it to New York for the festival, I had no idea I would return with an award," Hu says.

Shot while walking and riding public transport around Hong Kong, the film [in monochrome, which unfolds into colour] is narrated by Hu and includes classical music from her own collection.

The script is a mixture of quotes, memories and words from letters sent and received.

"I borrowed the camera from the university, It was quite heavy lugging it around. shooting in the tram was not easy, with people bumping into me. but standing at the back of the tram, as the city passed me by, moving away from me, fitted perfectly with my theme of recollection. Remembering what has gone by."

Was she worried that her foreign audience and judges might have misunderstood the movie?

"I think the main reason the film won was that the theme appealed to a lot of people," Hu says. "It was a moody piece about what your city means to you. Hong Kong had gone through tragedies, and so had New york."

Now that her first film has done so well, what's next for Hu? "There is that look of expectation now. I see it around me. My next project is due soon and it's not just other's expectations that I have to meet, but my own as well."

almost famous: Amabel Liu: Hong Kong Musician

Amabel Liu may appear one of the fresher faces on the local music scene, but she has a long history in the arts.

Liu, who will perform at the Fringe as part of jazz and blues band Subito, may be familiar to some as one half of the now now disbanded girl group, Sisters.
"Well, I do enjoy singing and my sister and I - we were in our teens - had signed this contract with a company and we had to perform songs in a particular style that was, well, pretty formulaic. I was in it about two years and then... it didn't work out that well, for me at least."

Hence, the repeated appearances on local TV shows and radio petered out. "We wanted to compose our own songs with a bit more diversity, but the compaany wanted us to do just the pop stuff. I really didn't."

So she hung up the microphone and left the music scene. Now she is back.

Much to the joy of the Fringe Club's Catherine Lau who says of Liu: "She's what I want to be - a singer, an artist, a pianist who does jazz. She's studied in New York. She's doing a course here now in fine arts. All this and she's just 21."

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Liu went through the rigmarole of the averaage local student, with school followed by extra-curricular activities that required as much, if not more, effort. "I've been playing the piano and composing my own songs since I was seven. I started learning the piano quite young and I was no genius that learnt everything in a year. I hated going to the exams."

If Liu's relationship with music has been tempestuous, her affair with painting is more stable - even if it's being enforced by her courses at university. "I love music, but that's just a part of me. I enjoyed painting and signed up for a course in upstate New York where I was for a year, and now I've transferred to the Chinese University and doing my bachelor's degree in fine arts."

As a professional singer, it's perhaps easier to gauge one's own success, but what's it like in the finicky and struggle-filled world of the ever-suffering-artist? "I've had my paintings exhibited and sold a few already. It's cool to find someone like-minded, who didn't just say they liked my work, but went out and bought it as well.

"I know I can't just be an artist and live off that, I'm a realist," she continues. "But I have my own studio and I'm there often and the money that I get through sales may not buy me a Mercedes, but I can get my brushes and canvases and paints, things I want and need."

Although Liu's shifted focus slightly, she's never let go of her musical roots. "Music is very much a part of me. I get it from my mum. She has all kinds of music and I'd go through the discs and find something odd and old and I'd really like it. When people come to a performance, I think they are taken aback by my choices. I love Julie London - she has the sexist voicce ever. I just love it. Billie Holiday, June Christie. The golden oldies."

Subito was born after a series of fortuitous meetings and now consists of Liu on vocals, Chris Gordon on guitar, mandolin and banjo, joined by Julian on double bass and Les on drums [both say they prefer not to use their surnames].

"During the breaks, each individual performer has a chance to showcase their solo pieces too so I get to present my compossitions or just play what I want to play. This freedom is much more fun then constantly being told what to do."

Words: P.Ramakrishnan

South China Morning Post

almost famous: Rani Asra Gidwani: Indian Dance Instructor and Choreographer Balances Motherhood and Bollywood Moves

Words: P.Ramakrishnan.

Portrait: 

Eight days before she delivered her beautiful baby girl Raina, Rani Asra Gidwani was squatting on cushions on her mother's living-room sofa, addressing a room full of dancers. Gidwani teaches Indian dance all year round but she's busiest during the months leading up to Diwali, the Indian new year, which falls on October 25 this year.

"I said no to everything but when people want you, they want you," she says. "I had an assistant; I showed them what to do and taught all the way till my last trimester."

With no formal training but with three decades of experience behind her, Gidwani combines Bollywood-style "filmy" dancing with MTV-inspired sequences and dollops of originality and style.

Officially, she's been instructing for nine years at her Kowloon School of Dance but as far back as she can remember she's been grooving to music. "I've been dancing since I was three years old choreographing my own dances since I was five," says the 33-year-old. "I've always been one of those people who leads the dance; I can't follow other people and copy them. That's not my style. What I have to offer is unique and original. I can't blindly copy what's on TV."

Apart from the vast number of youngsters she's taught over the past nine years ["Ninety-five per cent of the Indian kids in Tsim Sha Tsui who dance have come to some class or another with me"]. Gidwani's worked with Chinese, Japanese, Russian, British and Americans, enthused by the exuberance of Bollywood musicals' and joie de vivre.

"For the older ladies especially, or couples who just want to look good when they're dancing at events, it's a great workout. with Indian dance, bhangra especially, you shake everything. Bhangra-cise is huge in Britain and I'm sorting out a scheddule in Hong Kong too.

"Indian music has crept in to so many remixes. From Eminem to Ricky Martin, the influence has spread into the club scene as well so when people want to learn to move to it, they come to me. I'm sure I was the first person to mix hip-hop and Indian songs and teach dance."

A voluminous file reveals her students' information - an age group from three to 60. "I worked with an international school last year, with teachers, students, all of whom were putting on a Bollywood show after Moulin Rouge I think. They were eager to learn and that made it fun for me to teach. The best part was that there were no hassles because they were so enthusiastic."

Opportunity to work in Bollywood, the world's largest film industry, came often, but she didn't grab the offers. "I've had offers to work in showbiz many times but I wasn't ready to leave home - I was born and brought up in Hong Kong. To live in Mumbai and cater to stars and their egos and try my luck - I wasn't sure. Deep down, I didn't have the confidence then."

And now? "Now, I'm happily married and a mother of a 10-month-old. I still get to do what I love and seriously have no regrets."

almost famous: Uncle Joe: Hong Kong's Inde Band: Ex South Island School-ers Included

Text: P.Ramakrishnan
Photography: Dominic Hardoon

Throughout the past weekend's downpour, a sober few on the street in Lan Kwai Fong might remember running into Andrew Gardener and Tom Read of the local indie rock band, Uncle Joe, handing out invitations to their CD release party at Queens. They are the artists formerly known as the "spoilt-brat expat kids who think they are a band".

At least, that's how some scathing reviewers would brand the group. And they would be wrong. As those who track the independent music scene would know. Uncle Joe have long since graduated from wannabes to proficient musicians. They've been around for eight years, building a respectable fan base on the back of an energetic live show. At long last, their debut album, From The Towers Of This City, I Can Still See All Your Promises, has arrived.

Lead guitarist and singer Read says: "Over the years we've constantly been playing at venues around Hong Kong and performed in festivals and made a compilation of our best work in this album. It's been tried and tested and we've registered what the audience response has been like. Every single number on the disc is something we genuinely like, and think our listeners will too."

Minutes before we sit down for a chat in a music room, drummer Ben Matthews the latest addition to the band, enters dressed in a bland blue shirt and tightly wound tie, several office files in hand. As the shirt and tie comes off, he quips: "English teacher by day, porn star by night!"

As the laughter subsides, he points out that all four members [including bass guitarist Ben Tse] have day jobs ; they're not counting on their intermittent gigs to pay the rent.

Gardener, 28, says : "DJs in Hong Kong get anywhere between $1,000 per hour to five-figure earnings per night. In the current scenario, it's trendy and hip to have a DJ at a party, so they get paid. But with bands like us, who create and perform our own music, bring in all our equipment, it somehow becomes every venue doing us a favour by letting us perform. Bands can bring in customers, a fan base, none of that comes into play. The only way to make any money here is if you were playing cover versions of other artists."

Their day jobs - Read works with youth groups, Gardener is an investment banker, Tse and Matthews are English teachers - keep them away from rehearsal and recording studios, but they try to jam at least twice a week in a rented, sound-proof studio in Wan Chai. "Between us, we took about 10 to 14 days off to record and put this album together. It's a real labour of love and it's a self-funded album that's cost us a lot, but we believe in it; our faith is in the music."

Having met through a church group, there's a spiritual element to the songs. But, as Read explains, they're not necessarily about religion. It's up to the listener to interpret the lyrics. "We're not trying to be preachy in any way, we're not ashamed or shying away from our church but it's not a religious album; it's about faith, believing in whatever it is you believe in," he says. "The album stems from a lot of awful things that happened in Hong Kong, with the economic downturn, Sars... it emphasizes that we've got to believe in ourselves, in our city, instead of just complaining all the time."

Performing at festivals around Asia has been eye-opening as well. Gardener says: "Playing in Singapore last year was a humbling experience. There is an environment that nurtures their local talent. We could see, particularly with the singers, that they're at a different level altogether. The government supports the music scene at events like Bay Beats, held by the waterfront in Singapore. About 3,000 people turn up independent bands from all over come to perform. Now there's encouragement for the music scene from the government here, but the motives are clearly different; they want people to come to Hong Kong, to show that we're Sars free and safe. That's fine but Hong Kong really needs a dedicated venue that attracts punter not just Canto-pop."

almost famous: Michelle Blumenthal: Art Curator

Text: P.Ramakrishnan
Photography: David Wong

"There are only three times when a woman should be mentioned in the paper - when she's born, when she's getting married and when she dies," says Michelle Blumenthal. "I grew up in that old-world scenario with old fashioned virtues, so I'm not completely comfortable with this sell publicity."

Time, then, to talk about what she knows best: art. Blumenthal represents some of the finest mainland artists and acts as liaison between the art and business worlds, an example of which is visible at the Conrad hotel's Brasserie on the Eight restaurant, which is exhibiting the work of Sichuan artist Luo Fahui, one of her select few clients that include Yang Xhu, Sun Liang and Huang Yuanqing.

It may seem an odd choice to exhibit the esoteric artist's work in a highly commercial setting, but the reason is straightforward. "Hong Kong does not like to go to art galleries - that's for a very select group - but they do like to go out to eat," Blumenthal says. "For that reason, for the art to reach the public and high-profile guests who might see something they like and pick it up, I chose the Conrad. In Europe and America, there's a niche of trendy people, the art connoisseurs, where there's an acceptance of art in the social fabric and it is respected and nurtured. We have to strive for it a little more here."

Born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and raised in Cape town, South Africa, Blumenthal has a background in public relations and marketing. She later worked as a commodities trader and for a shipping line, a job that brought her to Hong Kong 18 years ago.

"There was always an attraction to get away from what I had done before," she says. A growing interest in art and China led to a natural progression into the world of Chinese art and a change of career in the early 1990s. Through her company, A+A Phoenix, she arranges exhibitions and deals with the business interests of her mainland clients. "Many work to live, I choose to live and work this way," she says.

She often attends local art exhibitions and events but only acts as an agent for mainland artists. "Mainland artists are a little more sophisticated, there's a depth to their work that's brought on by a level of education that supersedes that of local artists, so their choices are a bit more sophisticated. They are more in tune with what's around them. Artists there have a different history, whereas Hong Kong has been ccomfortable for a long time. Disomfort is something that encourages growth."

Blumenthal says she builds trust with her artists and stays with them through their development. "I don't believe an art dealer or a gallery owner should dictate the work of an artist, which does happen often. Gallery owners wield a certain power the artists, once they pick one and like the focus of their work, their genre; the artist might be forced to stick to that, to what sells. But if he or she changes, that same framework might not surround him or her. Limiting that creativity where an artist has to replicate a formula that is stifling creativity."

She shuns high-profile launches, aware that many in Hong Kong would turn up more for the photo opportunity than the artistic talent on display. Instead, she prefers to balance commerce and art with smaller exhibition launches.

"There is one particular family in Hong Kong who collects contemporary Westerrn and old Chinese artifacts and one of the ladies is very knowledgeable. I asked her to attend an opening but she saw a preview of the work and did not like it so she didn't want to attend... That is a form of artistic integrity I fully appreciate.

"When you look at a painting and it does absolutely nothing for you inside, then it doesn't work. If it does not provoke, it's dead. it's just colours on paper, it's..."

Substitute wallpaper?

"Exactly."

almost famous: Charlot K

by P.Ramakrishnan



Chances are you don't recognise the person in the picture accompanying this article. Yes, there's a woman behind the Medusa headgear, sparkles and the real-live cobra slung across her neck. It's one of many guises of the 32-year-old Charlot K, the former so called "Door Bitch" at Dragon-i and all-round Hong Kong "personality".

Funnily enough, she's been here for only four years and worked as guardian to the celebrity nightclub for a mere five months or so. But she has been tagged as the sharp-tonged and tattooed grand diva for longer than she cares. "It does annoy me to think that people know me only as the 'Door Bitch', I do have a real job and I do work in the day, that was just something I did for a short while," she says.

I recall one particular snub from the Vienna-born, London-and Australia-raised designer/stylist, when she told me: "You're not on the list honey, and you don't look important."

"I DID NOT SAY THAT to you, you little bitch!" she exclaims, throwing her head back in laughter and revealing - yet another surprise and trademark - a wicked tongue-ring.

"I did not get a power trip from that job, believe me. I obviously had to let all the models and celebrities sail by - because Gilbert (Yeung, the owner) knew everyone personally and we just had to keep the paparazzi at bay. I just did it because I didn't have a stable income at the time. But it wasn't a challenge and I felt I wasn't being creative and eventually I did leave."

She didn't just leave the club, sh scooted out of Hong Kong for nearly six months, leaving behind speculative whispers about just why she had gone. So what is the real story behind the mysterious Miss K? Her surname for a start?

"It' Kryza, it's Polish, my father was a runner in the Polish Olympic team and ran away from his homeland when he was in his early 20s. Communism, the iron curtain and all that, he had to get away but because he did run way there is huge part of my family I've never met. But leaving did mean he met my mother, a dressmaker, in Europe later on."

The eclectic mix - Polish and Viennese - brought about a self-professed nomad who confesses to a rather conservative hobby as a girl. "From my mother I obviously picked up many things, and when I was young, around 12, I used to make these Victorian dresses, poring over old books, Queen Victoria's diaries, books on elaborate period costumes, and I made them. I just love to do it. I did design in school, graphic design. After a while, i just hated sitting in front of a computer all the time, so I left that."

How did Hong Kong figure in the scheme of things? "I didn't really plan to move here, I was just visiting a friend, stayed for a while, then I was in a relationship so I stayed on."

Gently, I broach the subject on why she left. "It is a myth that I am this major party girl who likes to go out very weekend. I worked in a nightclub, I work with fashion, work behind the scenes at parties but I'm not the 'party girl'. I'm very happy lying in bed watching DVDs so for a while I wasn't seen in all the right places. My jobs had dried up because of SARS and I wasn't being challenged in Hong Kong, so I left for Bangkok. I went around showing my book - tear sheets of the designs I've done - to all the photographers, magazine folks and creative heads of companies. I got a great response, in fact, people showed more interest in my work there but there weren't any paying jobs on offer. So I came back. there are more events now, things have picked up and it's great to be working."