Candy Kuok uses her site-specific dances to enhance public awareness of urban conservation, combining the beauty of movement to the significance of memory
Living in Macau, everyone has their own memories relating to the apartment blocks they lived in growing up. Those memories bind people to their streets, which have collectively become a precious treasure of the city. However, the city is constantly expanding and developing, new constructions are emerging at an endless pace, some stories and memories are being buried and quietly lost, and the connection between people and the space is growing weak. Fortunately, there are still people who are not lost in the explosive growth of the economy, trying their best to keep their old neighbourhood culture and heritage intact. Candy Kuok is one of those people.
Kuok is a local modern dance performer and choreographer, and also the founding member of Soda-City Experimental Workshop Arts Association. She was primarily trained in ballet, but later became attracted and devoted to modern dance. Kuok has been to many places around the world to receive training, which she has incorporated into various disciplines and contemporary dance techniques. Kouk has been recommended as one of the candidates for UNESCO’s Fellowship Programme by the Macau government and her works have been presented at the Macao Arts Festival, Macao Fringe Festival, Macao International Juvenile Dance Festival and Ox Warehouse Theatre Season, amongst others.
In recent years, Kouk has been focusing on creating dance works to enhance public awareness of the conservation of the city landscape. The idea started in 2010, at that time the plan for the Macau New Urban Zone had just been approved. “The sea that the Pearl of the Orient sculpture is now facing will be turned into an artificial island, if so, we will never see such vast sea, even the city’s skyline is going to change. I wanted to do something to this place before it’s turned into just a memory,” says Kouk, and that’s how her story begins.
She performed her first urban conservation artwork “Memory” by the Pearl of the Orient sculpture, which was also part of the performances for Macao City Fringe 2010. Then later in 2011, Soda-City was offered a chance to bring “Memory” to the theatre, Kouk decided to extend it into a more comprehensive artwork “Memory Blueprint”, using dance to try to sketch a blueprint of the city from memory. Though the performance finished, Kouk didn’t stop thinking about the city. This year at the 26th Macao Arts Festival, she presented her latest dance theatre, “Memory Blueprint II”. It’s an artwork five years in the making, and has received enthusiastic responses, the production has been invited to perform in Portugal in October this year.
Since 2013 the dancer has also started another project relating to the city, OFF|SITE. It’s a site-specific performance project; dance and performances closely bound to the chosen spots. In 2013 Kouk and another 10 performers chose locations that they have a connection to in an old neighborhood, Rua dos Ervanarios, each created a 15-minute life-art work with an in-depth connection of the site, combining the unique landscape and culture of the place with their personal perception. The following year, instead of professional performances, Kouk invited renowned Danish artist Kitt Johnson to give a Site-specific Creative Workshop. Eleven participants conceived their own short works in eleven sites around Iao Hon. Selected participants will present their works together with Johnson in November this year. OFF|SITE tries to provide another way to look at the city we live in, using dance to establish a dialogue with city, so people don’t forget its past.
When talking about future developments Kouk states frankly that one shouldn’t depend on support from the government. “To develop modern dance is an issue that starts with yourself. Only in this way will this area blossom everywhere, and then you can naturedly choose a proper path for yourself.”
Pina Bausch once said, “I’m not interested in how people move, but what moves them.” What moves Kouk, and many other dancers like her, is their deep love for Macau.
