We sat down with the TS Crew, in association with Hong Kong Soul, are bringing No Dragon No Lion to Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Re-creating the classical Lion Dance and Chinese Opera as contemporary performance, this dynamic Kung-Fu dance-circus mixes beat-boxing, martial arts, tricks and parkour.
C ARTS, C venues, C aurora, main house
31 Jul – 25 Aug 2024 (not 5, 6, 12, 13, 19 & 20), 13.50 (14.40)
What inspired you to blend traditional Chinese performing arts with contemporary elements like live beatboxing and film music in “No Dragon No Lion”?
People nowadays are quite detached with the traditional performing arts. However, for different reasons, Hong Kong is a place with quite a lot of Chinese traditional performing arts. And to develop it instead of just preserving the tradition, TS Crew decided to blend with different contemporary elements to make the sure much easier to be understood by both local and international audiences. And beatboxing is a very creative and flexible form of performance, therefore, it helps a lot to bring different perspectives to the creators, performers as well as audience.
Can you describe the process of re-creating the classical New Year Lion Dance and Chinese Opera for a modern audience?
I will say it brings a whole new perspective for the modern audience to see what is traditional and how could the traditional attach to our modern taste again.
The show is very physical, how do the performers look after themselves?
They need enough warm ups, enough sleep and a very careful diet. But at the same time, to enjoy the “here and now” of the live performance is important too.
How has TS Crew’s diverse background in film, drama, xiqu, and other performing arts influenced the creation of “No Dragon No Lion”?
It’s like a community or even a society, more diverse means more interesting and increase the layers and complexities of the show for people to dig deeper and deeper.
·Can you share more about the themes of brotherhood, discovery, and transformation explored in the performance?
In the show, especially the contemporary lion dance part, you will see the trust between the performers, it’s like you put your life in the hands of your brothers, and at the same time, they will do some tricks to surprise the others and to let them react lively on the stage.
The first part of the show is more like how the general character of the Hong Kong people acquire, which is to be smart, be fast, be flexible, integrate different things and create something unique. The second part of the show is like when you are experiencing a hard and difficult time, when your character is no longer appreciated or even suppressed because of many reasons, you look back to your own traditions, transform yourself to a better and stronger person as well as a better and stronger group of people. This process is a (re)discovery of yourself and the people around you.
The show is part of the Hong Kong Soul showcase, can you tell us a bit more about that and the other shows in the showcase?
It’s Not My Body Chapter 3.5 – This Is is a double-billed performance by two solo artists exploring what dance and live and contemporary performance means to him by taking 2 totally different approaches.