Jockey Club New Arts Power JOCKEY CLUB New Arts Power, launched in 2017, is an annual Arts Festival presented by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council with the funding support from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. The Festival brings together established and emerging local artists to produce creative, approachable and engaging arts experiences for all.
In the past four editions, 43 arts groups have participated in the Festival. Together they produced 90 live performances and a remarkable number of major exhibitions. Uniting art groups and various organisations from the social welfare, academic and commercial sectors, the festival held over 550 community and school events, reaching some 460,000 participants. JOCKEY CLUB New Arts Power 2021 / 2022 has been launched in September 2021, featuring a total of 6 selected programmes that include dance, theatre, music, as well as presenting more than 100 community and school activities.
Table of Content Introduction to the User Guide ......................................................................................... 2 Music Boundless Groove: A Sonic Journey in Nature ................................................................. 3 Yet Another Dream ............................................................................................................ 5 Toolbox Manoeuvre ........................................................................................................... 7 Theatre #1314 .................................................................................................................................. 9 Tales of Fool ..................................................................................................................... 11 Dot/line/plane@SuperBaby............................................................................................. 13
Extended Readings ........................................................................................................... 15
Some photos are taken before the COVID-19 pandemic. For photos taken during the pandemic, all persons involved have duly observed disease prevention measures of the times. (Note: The English version is translated from the Chinese version. In case of discrepancies between the two versions, the Chinese version shall prevail.)
JOCKEY CLUB New Arts Power
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Introduction to the User Guide This User Guide produced by JOCKEY CLUB NEW ARTS POWER is intended for teachers, highlighting the creative ideas of artists and inspiring students to discuss and reflect.
User Guide Carefully selected highlights, including creative concepts, highlighted sections and extended discussions, will inspire students to appreciate forms of expression and reflect on issues brought out by the artworks.
Appreciation Guide In a refreshing style, it directs students to examine from a variety of perspectives.
Programme Video Documenting containing behind-the-scene footages and performance excerpts, one could grasp the unique attributes of each show.
ê How to Use
Creative Concepts Introducing local art groups and illustrating their creative concepts
Highlighted Sections Outlining pivotal quirks, along with Programme Videos and Appreciation Guides, teachers could easily decide the content they need. Extended Discussions Providing additional topics for teachers and students to learn and discuss.
How to Locate the Highlights? 05:00 Programme Video timecode P.14 Appreciation Guide page number
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Music
Boundless Groove: A Sonic Journey in Nature Wuji Ensemble
Programme Video
Appreciation Guide
Pursuing originality ceaselessly, Wuji Ensemble showcase their mastery of arranging Chinese and Western tunes of miscellaneous genres. The group has been collaborating with jazz bands since 2019, successfully bringing about the integration of Chinese instruments and Western jazz music. Their latest production, A Sonic Journey in Nature, continues their convention of promoting the colliding, intersecting and merging of two kinds of music, creating an undulating soundscape that unscrolls like a Chinese landscape painting before one’s eyes. The concert set off with a trio of pipa, cello and singing bowl, followed by an unadulterated jazz dialogue between piano and clarinet. Gradually, the sound of pipa and dulcimer emerges; the atmosphere escalates along with movements of jazz drumming and guzheng. Law Wing-fai, artistic director of the group, pushes the performance to a thrilling climax. A Sonic Journey in Nature epitomizes the distinctive vibe and music landscape that are unique to Wuji Ensemble.
Creative Concept
Abandoning their routine, musicians of various Chinese and Western instruments improvise freely without the restrain and norm of sheet music. The overall performance, consisting of diversified and varying pitches, is characterized by its latent power. Dissolving the sense of separation between the self and other, the show motivates audience to attain such spiritual realisation. Key Learning Areas: Subject: Music • Differences between Chinese and Western music performances • Learning about improvisation • Possibility of playing jazz music with Chinese musical instruments
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Highlighted Sections 1. Traditional Chinese music and Western classical music The former is leaded by a leading instrument and the latter, by the conductor. Jazz music emphasises freedom and improvisation under the groove. 0:25 / 2:59 P.10 2. What is improvisation? Improvisation by the conductor Embellishment in Chinese music Improvisation in jazz music
4:08 5:00 5:32 / 6:00
P.12 P.14 P.14
3. Merging of Chinese musical instruments with jazz music Chinese musical instruments: Si Zhu (silk and bamboo) The vibe under the jazz framework Free but functional performing style of clarinet The unique method of deriving music from lyrics
6:54 / 7:48 13:18 / 14:07
P.12 P.16
Extended Discussions
1. Music is able to convey our inner voices and emotions. Invite students to talk about tunes that arouse their feelings. 2. Do students have any experience of improvising? Comparing that with conventional performances with music notation, what are the differences in skills and feelings required by improvisation? ( P.12) 3. After viewing the excerpt of ensemble of Chinese and jazz music ( 7:48 / 14:07), do students believe they are in tune with each other? Let them speak their mind.
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Music
Yet Another Dream Lam Fung
Programme Video
Appreciation Guide
Lam Fung receives the training of classical music and nurturing of contemporary music. His oeuvres are characterised by diversified styles and experimentality. Furthermore, he regularly composes for different other forms of art, covering dance, drama, sound installation and multimedia production. For the past two decades, he has been penning works that are rich in variety. As a review of his music journey, Yet another dream features repertoires written and selected by Lam himself, who leads, on his piano, the Hong Kong Contemporary Music Group during the live gig. The concert also features theatrical aesthetics and images by anothermountainman as well as the upcycling curtain installation by local fabric designer Toby Crispy. Promoting the interaction of sound and visual elements, Yet another dream manifests a “day dream” of music that feels real and illusionary.
Creative Concept
To Lam, music represents an art form that is vague and intangible but embodies a space for audience to imagine. Combining multi-media application, Lam wishes to reflect concepts and feelings of his music and creates enriched sensory pleasures and experiences for the audience. Key Learning Areas: Subjects: Music / Visual Art / Installation Art • Exploring contemporary classical music • Connection between musical and visual presentations • Pursuit of personal styles
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Highlighted Sections 1. The contemporary classical music that veers between reality and illusion Lam’s music style: • Dream – Dreamscape 18:08 P.12-13 • Slowness – Before a Passage 1:21 / 17:28 P.14-15 • Dreamy illusions – Illumination P.16-17 2. How does the show integrate music and multi-media elements? The theme of “real illusion” and its implication 10:17 Expressing “real illusion” through images 10:48 A sense of “real illusion” illustrated created by recycled fabric installation 9:01 3. Music with “dreamy” as the theme P.20
Extended Discussions
1. Invite students to elaborate on “dreamy” music they have listened to before. What kind of attributes do they have? 2. Conduct the exercise “An Interval of Thought” from the Appreciation Guide ( P.18). Write down views or things from their associations. 3. In the Appreciation Guide, Lam mentioned that style would naturally emerge if one explore their own preferences ( P.5-6). Encourage students to deduce their personal styles based on their own preferences. Then think of one artwork (in any art form) that best exemplifies the style.
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Music
Toolbox Manoeuvre Toolbox Percussion
Programme Video
Activities Video
Appreciation Guide
Percussions are the music of nature, pulse of city and banality of life. Based on these beliefs, Toolbox Percussion, partnering with contemporary choreographers and interpreting passages by Kafka, performs a number of music repertoires that are commissioned, adapted and originally composed. Deliberating from the limitation of conventional percussion performance, Toolbox Manoeuvre offers a direct dialogue between artists and audience. Furthermore, taking inspirations from Inuksuit by John Luther Adams, an American composer, the team worked with Lung Fu Shan Environmental Education Centre to direct participants to walk into the nature. By collecting, recording and reshaping natural sound, they eventually conducted a music ensemble of nature from their soul.
Creative Concept
Working around the motto “Transforming Everyday Objects into Music”, Toolbox Percussion transforms sundry percussion elements from daily activities, urban cities and human bodies to assorted forms of music and pursues the possibility of sound outside the music hall. 17:10 Key Learning Areas: Subjects: Music / Dance / Literature • Learning about percussion • Association between percussion and the city • Percussion in daily life
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Highlighted Sections 1. What is percussion? Tradition and evolution of percussion
0:29
P.8-9
2. Expressing the pulse of a city with percussion Imitating rhythm of the city 1:50 Percussions in nature and daily life 0:10 / 1:05 P.14 Different associations with the city through various art forms – literature, dance and music 8:20 / 16:30 P.8-9 3. Percussion exercises Drawing graphic notations Exercises on clapping and rhythms Percussion quartet with 8 hands
2:02 2:58 3:24
P.15-16 P.11 P.12
Extended Discussions
1. After watching the excerpts, invite students to share their associations of sound or fragments from the daily life of city. 2. Invite students to pick several routine objects from daily life and, share how these objects can produce sounds, the timbre of such sounds, as well as how they can be associated with sounds in nature. 3. Encourage students to, during their leisure, listen attentively to sounds in different environments. Use the map in appreciation guide ( P.16) to draw graphic notations. Share the findings in groups afterwards.
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Theatre
#1314 Théâtre de la Feuille
Programme Video
Appreciation Guide
Founded in France, Théâtre de la Feuille incorporates the Western performance methods devised by Jacques Lecoq and oriental art traditions. They have been devoted to the production of artwork in diverse styles. A creative adaptation of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, short film #1314 features songs of various genres, including folk and rock, and are performed in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. The Chinese translation of lyrics are composed by the actors; lines from Shakespeare’s poems are selected and rearranged. Shot with one single take, the film resembles the continuity of theatre performance and creates a third person perspective through its camera angles, resulting in a unique charm.
Creative Concept
Shakespearean Sonnets illustrate all forms of human love and desire. Through the collision of poetic bodies with poetic languages, #1314 transforms Sonnets into music and lyrics, constructing a spectacular atmosphere and space. With the form of theatrical performances, its story inspires audience to imagine and reflect. 01:55 / 21:30 Key Learning Areas: Subjects: Literature / Chanting / Video / Drama • Learning about Sonnets • Understanding effects and challenges of reciting sonnets in different languages • Characteristics of Chinese poetry and Cantonese lyrics
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Highlighted Sections 1. Shakespearean Sonnets Origin and development Comparison with Chinese poetry and lyrics
0:41
P.8-11 P.14-15
2. Reciting sonnets in different languages Rhyme and metre of English Sonnets 2:18 P.12-13 Characteristics of Cantonese lyrics and the challenges of adapting Sonnets into Cantonese 4:03 / 13:05 P.18-20 3. Dramatic effect by using only one single take Resembling the uninterrupted course of theatrical performance, with the camera angle offering a third person perspective for examining relationships among characters and conveying stories 10:30 / 12:37
Extended Discussions
1. Invite students to translate excerpts of Sonnets to Cantonese and allow other students to recite them. Discuss their effects. 2. In the video, actors mentioned the method of cocreating ( 20:11) adopted by the director. Encourage students to describe their ideal relationship between directors and actors.
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Theatre
Tales of Fool Educational Theatre Théâtre de la Feuille
Programme Video
Appreciation Guide
Excelled in storytelling with bodily movements, Théâtre de la Feuille adapts two historical incidents from the Qin dynasty registered in the Records of the Grand Historian. Through simple theatrical settings and spectacular live background music, Tales of Fool incorporates elements of Cantonese operas – singing, acting, reciting and acrobatic fighting – and that of commedia dell'arte from the West. The performance highlights tremendous dramatic tension and demands actors’ dexterities. In this piece of educational theatre, members of the troupe would undertake warm-up with students before leading them to enjoy this short, black comedy centring on a clownish character, who generally performs funny acts in theatre plays. As the plot unfolds, he managed to resolve conflicts and turn the table through sarcastic and humorous means. Would students change their views towards clownish characters afterwards?
Creative Concept
Incorporating elements of Cantonese opera – singing, acting, reciting and acrobatic fighting – and that of commedia dell'arte from the West. Tales of Fool re-constructs historical events complied in the Records of the Grand Historian, to inspire audience’s interest in traditional dramas from both the East and the West, as well as to broaden the imagination and reflection when adapting historical stories. Key Learning Areas: Subjects: Drama / Literature • Comparison between Italian commedia dell'arte with Cantonese opera • Exploring the use of bodily movements on stage in daily life • Exploring the effects created by various kinds of theatrical performances
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Highlighted Sections 1. Characteristics of and comparison between Italian commedia dell'arte and Cantonese opera
P.7-9 2. Exercises on using the body • Reaction exercises • Stake standing
2:16 3:18
3. Stage effects achieved by educational theatre 7:16 P.11 • Small Theatre: What effects are achieved by impromptu setup? • Colombina Masks: How does each mask comply with the nature of every character? • Live Music: What kind of instruments are being employed? • Sound Effects: What kind of effects are produced by the sound during the fight scene? • Uses of Props: How are the action of fighting and bleeding portrayed with simple props?
Extended Discussions
1. Invite students to share their thoughts on the following lines from the appreciation guide ( P.10): “…despite their insignificance, minor characters should have their own stories as well…Villains have their background and good guys, their dark sides.” 2. During the early stage of the performance, the actor who played You Zhan demonstrated the action of “opening the door”. Invite students to perform the very same endeavour by referring to the exercise from the appreciation guide ( P.12). 3. Let students discuss in groups and attempt to perform the scene of fighting and injury by using existing resources available in the classroom.
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Theatre
Dot/line/plane@SuperBaby Jumbo Kids Theatre
Programme Video
With more than 22 years of experience in children theatre, Jumbo Kids Theatre intends to, apart from entertaining children, enrich their life with drama performances and re-discover the long lost innocence among adults. Dot/line/plane@SuperBaby incorporates drama, physical movements, music and projections. Through a theatrical performance without dialogue, children and parents can interact with performers. With the pouring of colourful spheres, the show manifests a spectacular beauty through simple lines and shapes and deconstructs an imaginative and bizarre world for adults and children alike.
Creative Concept Dot/line/plane@SuperBaby, in the form of non-verbal theatre, targets for children aged 2 to 6. The show makes use of the countless variation of dots, lines and planes to inspire appreciation of various qualities and discovery of magnificence from triviality.
Key Learning Areas: Subjects: Drama / Early Childhood Education • Learning about non-verbal theatre • Exploring the stimuli for senses needed by infants • Theatrical elements suitable for children’s needs
Highlighted Sections 1. “Language” of non-verbal theatre • Physical expressions • Viewing form the child’s perspective
1:51 12:07 16:05
2. Children’s Creative Development • Infants aged 2 – 4: Fundamental training of “aesthetics” • Children aged 6 -8 (preconventional creativity): Outburst of creativity; confidence of self-expressions
JOCKEY CLUB New Arts Power
1:01 7:40
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3. Theatrical elements that inspire children’s creativity and imagination • Constructing a theatrical stage with dot, line and plane 8:54 • Interactions between actors and projections 2:55 • Application of colours and light 9:26
Extended Discussions
1. Choose a familiar story for drama performance. Invite students to improvise it without verbal utterances. 2. After watching the excerpt, invite students to discuss the challenges and delight of playing a drama without dialogue as well as children theatre.
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Extended Readings Online Learning Platform Bitsize www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize Developed by British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Bitesize is a free online learning resources platform. Categorised by subjects and grades, the content covers general academic subjects as well as assorted fields in the arts. For instances, under the title “music”, one could notice sub-divided branches such as composing, performing and music technology. The platform can meet teaching and learning needs of educators and students. Electronic Database Drama Online www.dramaonlinelibrary.com Drama Online is an enormous electronic database that offers practical and valuable resources for students and educators who are interested in theatre and literature. Having complied more than 2000 scripts, its collection ranges from works from the fifth century to contemporary repertoires. Furthermore, the archive contains scores of academic articles as well as near a thousand titles of performance recordings, film adaptation excerpts and recorded play readings. Website on Theatrical Education for Children Kids Theater www.kidstheater.org The homepage offers a diversity of resources, intending to promote local children theatre and enhance art education. Its content covers local, original scripts for children theatre, theatre techniques and activities, children's literature and related reviews. Classified according to their themes, the archived plays for children theatre allow parents and teachers to locate appropriate texts related to their classes and teachings.
Publisher: Editor: Design: Date:
Hong Kong Arts Development Council Cultural Connections PAPAPER March, 2022
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the copyright owner. All content is solely produced by the creative teams. The views and opinions expressed do not represent the stand of this scheme nor the funding body.
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