Piazzolla's Tango on Stage

A clear view of the HK Philharmonic with social-distancing

Last night, for the first time in over a year, I attended a concert by the Hong Kong Philharmonic in the Concert Hall of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

The concert, called "Piazzolla at 100!" featured the works of Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, who would have been 100 on March 11. He is best known for his tango music, the most famous piece is Libertango.

When concertgoers entered the Cultural Centre, they had to either use the LeaveHomeSafe app, or write down their contact details. Seating inside the concert hall was quite spread out, with four people sitting together, separated by several seats and another set of four. 

The first three rows were blocked off, so I essentially sat in the first row! What a treat!

Piazzolla would have been 100 years old this year

All the orchestra members were masked except of course those playing wind instruments, who were separated by plexiglass partitions. Musicians usually sit in pairs sharing music, but now were spread out and each had their own music stand.

Argentine conductor Mariano Chiacchiarini, who is based in Germany, went through the 21-day quarantine in Hong Kong to lead a few concerts, including one on Brahms last week. I was surprised to see him come out with one of those plastic see-through masks, but realized he needed to show his facial expressions more clearly to the orchestra members.

He is very energetic and knowledgeable about Piazzolla, who was born in Argentina, but then moved to New York with his family when he was four years old. There he was exposed to tango through his father's records, and learned pieces by Bach on a bandoneon, a button accordion.

The first piece, Tangazo starts off slow and then becomes a very robust tango style. Piazzolla, Chiacchiarini explains, liked to use a lot of percussion in his work, even having the double bass musicians hit their instrument like a drum, or knock on it, while violinists make a funny squiggly sound, and even one that sounds like a quirky whip.

Tango purists did not like Piazzolla was doing to the music, and the conductor said that even taxi drivers refused to pick up the composer in protest, but he didn't mind -- he felt he was helping tango music not only gain a wider audience but also developed it further.

Piazzolla first learned music on the bandoneon

The second piece, The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, which is inspired by Vivaldi's Four Seasons, except Piazzolla's version starts with Summer, then Autumn, Winter then Spring. Here they played Winter and Spring. Originally it was only supposed to be played by a few instruments, and Piazzolla wrote it like a violin concerto, with the solo by the HK Phil's concert master, Jing Wang. 

He came out in a black T-shirt under a black jacket that had a dazzling silver spine at the back. One could tell he was itching to play and got a warm applause afterwards.

The orchestra also played music by Piazzolla's teacher, Alberto Ginastera called Estancia: Four Dances, op. 8a. When Ginastera was 25-years-old he was commissioned by the New York City Ballet's precursor to write a ballet score based on Argentine country life.

He wrote a one-act ballet where a city boy falls in love with the daughter of a cattle ranch owner, but he can only win her heart in a dancing contest with local cowboys. This piece had a very lively finish and we could imagine how the dancing went down in the competition!

Next up, some tango! Raymond Chu and Lily Cheng are well known in Hong Kong for their tango dancing and they came on stage -- very narrow due to the social-distancing of the musicians -- for them to dance. They seemed to look down on the ground often at first, perhaps a bit nervous about how much room they had to dance around in.

Lily Cheng and Raymond Chu danced the tango

But it was nice to see them dance to music by Piazzolla's contemporaries, like Gerardo Matos Rodriguez, and Julian Plaza. Chu and Cheng made it fun. In Piazzolla's Libertango, Cheng comes out on stage, but Chu hasn't arrived. Chiacchiarini turns around and she signals to him, Can you dance with me?

And he obliges and they twirl around a bit before Chu finally emerges on stage. Chiacchiarini points to his watch as if to say, "You're late!"

Check out this video of him conducting Libertango at the Lucerne Festival last year with fantastic tango dancers.

Afterwards the audience couldn't stop clapping for an encore (which sadly was a slow piece), but nevertheless, was a wonderful way to cap off a tough week for me work-wise and left me hoping to attend more concerts again in the future.

Piazzolla at 100!

Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall, April 16

Piazzolla: Tangazo

Piazzolla: The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires: Winter, Spring

Ginastera: Estancia: Four Dances

Matos Rodriguez: La Cumparsita

Plaza: Nocturna

Piazzolla: Libertango

HK Govt Wants to Track Your Movements

Hong Kong only tested 1.78 million people in universal testing

 

Hong Kong recorded 84 new coronavirus cases today, and in the last few days there are stories trickling out about a freelance Chinese food writer who went to at least one tasting this week before testing positive, and a three-Michelin starred Italian restaurant having two staff who were also infected, and a hipster food hall in Central has another case.

While the government is mulling making residents download an app to scan QR codes wherever they go in a bid to make it easier to track down possible closer contacts, people may not comply because they have lost faith in Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and her administration.

Scanning QR codes may become mandatory

Many businesses have already put up the QR code at their entrances, but I have yet to see anyone scan the code to check-in, and check-out. However it would be possible for the government to make scanning the QR code mandatory to enter the premises, much like temperature checks.

As for people who don't even own smartphones... what are they going to do?

Meanwhile the pro-establishment camp is anxious to reopen the border between Hong Kong and the mainland, which means aiming for the zero infection number Lam mentioned this past week in her policy address.

They are pushing for universal testing, but interesting that Lam disagrees, saying since it took two weeks to test 1.78 million people, then surely it would take four to five weeks to test the entire population, and the entire city would have to be in lockdown during that period.

"Hong Kong will have to pay a very heavy price," she said, adding her estimation had no scientific basis.

Lam says test high-risk groups like dance clubs

She is following the advice of infectious disease experts who have advocated testing high-risk groups, like the current dance club cluster, and senior government officials.

Lam also didn't want to push for universal testing, saying that the past year of anti-government protests triggered by the now-withdrawn extradition bill, had made her work to combat the pandemic even harder as some people had lost trust in the government.

Hmmm... now whose fault is that? She could have tried to address this very issue in her policy address but refused to even try to resolve the impasse with at least an independent inquiry into police brutality.

The chief executive seems to build herself up as a martyr. When I brought up her saying she was paid in cash and was just asking for a thief to rob her, a relative pointed out Lam was keen on making others take pity on her...

Silk Road: Uyghur Culture

Two musicians playing amazing instruments, a woman on tambourine

After we arrived in Kashgar, we quickly noticed things were much different here in the westernmost city in China and Xinjiang that borders Kazakhstan. All the Uyghurs look very different, some fair skinned, almost European, and others very dark and could be mistaken for being Mexican, much like how the Spanish can have various shades of skin colour.

Our first meal was at a Uyghur restaurant that looked traditional and probably for the benefit of tourists. In the middle was a bar (with no alcohol) and a dancing floor with a platform where three musicians sat playing instruments. Two dancers, a man and a woman performed folk dances for guests.

The woman would also dance with her partner for diners

It seemed like the Han Chinese sat on one side of the room, while the other featured Hui ethnic minority people, who are also Muslim, the women wearing simple headdresses and clapping along with the music.

We were given an array of dishes to eat, like a ratatouille with noodles, a large dumpling filled with lamb, and sweet rice seasoned with spices, and of course lamb kebabs. We were also presented with baked buns with minced meat inside.

The music was fantastic, mesmerizing to listen to -- a pity we were not given an introduction to the instruments! And it was interesting to watch how the dancers interpreted the music through their dance steps.

A bowl of noodles with a kind of ratatouille

After dinner, I wanted to share some moon cakes from Hong Kong with the rest of the tour members -- 30-year-old mandarin peels with red bean paste -- but I needed a knife to cut them.

We asked one of the waitresses in Mandarin and she violently shook her head and waved her hand. Then we thought she didn't understand Mandarin and drew a picture... not the best drawing, but when we showed it to her she again shook her head.

Finally we managed to flag down our Uyghur tour guide to ask for a knife and he said we were not allowed to have one in the restaurant. In the end we had to settle for a spoon which I used to cut the moon cakes into quarters. It wasn't the best solution, but it was the only one.

Sweetened and spiced rice with lamb kebabs and a dumpling

We later found out that Uyghurs are not allowed to carry knives anywhere and they are only allowed in the kitchen, not for guests to use. It's just another of the Chinese government's strict measures to try to control this "restive region" following some attacks in the last eight to nine years, some of which involved knives.

The longer we stayed here, the more we realized how oppressive life was like for Uyghurs -- on a daily basis.

Lessons in Kinky Boots

Lots of high energy in the Tony-award winning musical Kinky Boots

One of the Broadway shows we saw was Kinky Boots, the Tony-award winning show featuring words and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper and book by Harvey Fierstein.

Rock star Brendon Urie plays Charlie Price

The musical is based on a 2005 British film called Kinky Boots that was inspired by true events. In the show, Charlie Price is the fourth generation of a shoe-making business but needs to figure out how to keep the company from going bankrupt and has an encounter with a drag queen...

Brendon Urie plays Charlie, and when he first appeared on stage, there were hysterical screams from young women in the audience because he's the frontman for the rock band Panic!

Having someone famous -- and easy on the eyes -- helps sell tickets, and in this case Urie plays the part well.

However his co-star J. Harrison Ghee as Lola was electrifying. He can not only sing his heart out, but has hilarious lines he delivers with pizazz and can dance in heels. He and the other drag queens do some really cool moves... talk about making drag queens more mainstream than ever in a Tony-award winning musical!

Also fantastic is the character Nicola played by Taylor Louderman, who really made the audience laugh with her lines and body language.

J. Harrison Ghee is amazing as drag queen Lola

The storyline is well thought out and focused on the similarities of the two characters even though they have such different backgrounds. It makes you realize how each had to have courage to carry on despite the risks stacked against them.

Nevertheless, overall the show was very high energy and after the show was over, many people wanted to dance their way out of the theatre.

Lots of fun!

Kinky Boots

Al Hirschfeld Theatre

302 West 45th Avenue

New York

kinkybootsthemusical.com

Charmed by Old Quebec

Quebec flags flying proudly in Old Quebec

I haven't been to Quebec City since I was a teenager and had fond memories of the place, being very European and beautiful. And I'm glad to report it still is very much so, particularly the old part of town.

We're on a cruise on the Queen Mary 2 -- the same ship we were on two years ago -- and it is docked by the old town called Old Quebec.

Time is limited so we took a bus tour to see some of the main sights, but looking back on my notes, they are just a series of factoids that don't seem that interesting! But overall it was a good reminder of how old the area is compared to say Vancouver, and that old and new co-exist well together.

Wandering around the quaint old town

The area was founded by explorer Samuel de Champlain in 1608 and Quebec means the "where the river narrows" on the St Lawrence River. It also naturally has lots of cliffs making the place a great fortress.

The tour guide said that the main employer was the government, with one in 10 jobs are civil servant ones. There's also 9,000 soldiers posted here and lots of research particularly in fibre optics conducted here.

Interesting to note is the train station and Chateau Frontenac have similar architecture and have the copper roofs that have turned green.

In between pointing out the sights and good restaurants to try, the guide also showed us a few churches that have changed in use. Some have converted into condos that he joked would help you "rest in peace", another was just sold to be used to host flea markets, and another had shops on the ground floor. Talked about mixed-use land.

We also saw a statue of Joan of Arc riding on a horse with one leg up. The guide said one leg up meant the person was injured in battle; two meant the person had died. Three? That horse must be performing with Cirque du Soleil...

The majestic Chateau Frontenac run by Fairmont Hotels

Yesterday we had wandered a bit of the old town, and we were charmed by the old-looking streets and the shops, mostly arts and crafts, cafes and such.

There were several musicians on the streets, including a man on a harp, and another playing the violin and singing folk songs as well as playing wooden spoons. In the evening we saw a performance on the ship by a group singing folk songs and dancing to them.

At one point they also demonstrated how to use the wooden spoons (they are attached together), and the leader got several audience members up on stage to learn how to use them!

The leader also joked that the dancing was very Irish (think Riverdance), but the songs were very French.

Passing by Notre Dame Cathedral

Visiting Quebec City again reminded us of why we loved it here the first time, and it's a place that we should come back to again with more time. It's so full of history and culture, the people are friendly and like a good joke or two.

One Cool Pole Dancing Granny

Dai is very happy to have taken up pole dancing for fun and fitness

We love this story about a 69-year-old grandmother from Chengdu, Sichuan province, who's also a pretty damn good pole dancer.

Dai Dali has made a name for herself, performing on CCTV, and even represented China in Asia's Got Talent, where she made it to the semi-finals. In June she won an award for a pole dancing competition, and since then has had lots of media attention.

Dai attends classes regularly and even has a pole at home

After she retired from working in a bookstore, Dai liked to practice folk dancing in a gym. It was next door to a pole dance studio. She always passed by but never really thought about it. Then one day five years ago, she walked into the studio and asked the instructor if she could learn. The answer? "Of course you can."

She says she didn't know much about pole dancing -- especially its sexual connotations -- she just thought it would be a good way to exercise.

"I'd never danced on a pole before so I wanted to give it a try," Dai says. "When the instructor let me have a go I started to learn. Gradually I learned how to climb the pole and turn around on it. I was very happy to be able to do that."

When asked what her family thinks about her pole dancing, she says they are all supportive. "My husband minds his own business. He likes to play mahjong and we rarely interfere with one another's hobbies," Dai explains. "My 12-year-old grandson is a very loyal fan of mine. I'll show him the new poses I've learned and he always takes pictures of me dancing. My sister used to think it was too dangerous and asked me to stop practicing. But after seeing my performance, she was very excited and also very proud of me."

Check her out in this Asia's Got Talent clip:

Dai has seen a lot of benefits from pole dancing, reporting that the inflammation and swelling in her left wrist has gone down considerably, thus improving her health and fitness level. She loves pole dancing so much that she's even installed a pole in her home to practice every other day for about 10 minutes.

Two to three times a week Dai has pole dancing lessons that are about 90 minutes long. While the vast majority of the students are young women, she doesn't mind, saying: "I don't feel any different from them. I can learn some moves very quickly. I always forget my age."

We love Dai's attitude. She'd rather be dancing -- doing something she enjoys -- than waiting to die, she says. She'll be turning 70 in December, and one thing's for sure, Dai will continue swinging around the pole and having fun.

Gov't Backpedals on Dancing Grannies

The "dancing grannies" can continue line dancing in public spaces

A few days ago I wrote a post about the Chinese government issuing 12 model routines "dancing grannies" should follow to develop "healthy, watchable, scientific, and wide-ranging dancing".

There were 12 videos people could follow, but they were hardly featuring the right demographic in these "model routines" -- scantily clad young women in aerobic gear.

Needless to say the "dancing grannies" raised an uproar and now it seems Chinese sports officials are backpedaling on cracking down on these middle-aged to elderly women who have fun and exercise by doing line dancing or square dancing out in public spaces.

So it's not surprising the "dancing grannies" and their supporters criticized the new rules and routines, complaining they were robotic, and not interesting to watch or participate if every one did the same dance steps.

Although the statement initially posted on the General Administration of Sport's website had explicitly declared the end of personalized routines and the imposition of a national standard, officials later clarified that the 12 model routines were only mean to provide "scientifically sound alternatives" to existing ones.

"We saw that some people on the internet were worried that the new regulations meant all over China people would only be allowed to dance these 12 routines," Liu Guoyong, of the General Administration of Sport told the media. "Of course that's impossible. It's a misunderstanding."

Ah-ha! A "misunderstanding". So it doesn't seem like the authorities will be able to check on the some 100 million people participating in dance groups in every town, city and province, so the "dancing grannies" will be able to continue dancing to their own tunes.

So while it's a relief to hear the "dancing grannies" don't have to copy the routines anytime soon, what about regulating the noise levels so that some people can have a bit of peace?

Regulating Dancing Grannies

Have you seen women like these dancing around your neighbourhood?

On my way to the shuttle bus that takes me to work each morning, I pass through a small park and there's music blaring and a group of women in their 60s are busy following a dance routine, waving their arms, sashaying to the right then the left.

Some include handkerchiefs to accessorize their dancing, others fans. One time Gangnam Style blasted out which shocked me -- those aunties were really cool! But then I never heard them play that song again.

In Beijing, these "dancing grannies" were commonplace. After offices are cleared out, these women start converging on parks, plazas and even wide sidewalks, anywhere they can spread out and do their thing -- even if passersby have to snake around them to get to the other side.

While the music can be unbearable to listen to -- some are old school songs or just plain bad recordings, it's great to see these women not only getting some exercise in, but also socializing with others, which is probably the key to their well-being and health.

But not everyone likes the "dancing grannies" and there have been incidents where angry residents have tried to chase these women away to go dance elsewhere. In 2013 a Beijing man was so annoyed that he fired a shotgun in the air and set three Tibetan mastiffs at the dancing group. He was later arrested near his home.

This week the Chinese government has decided enough is enough and has issued rules developed after a joint study by the General Administration of Sport and the Ministry of Culture. The hope is to develop "healthy, watchable, scientific and wide-ranging" dancing, state media reported.

Therefore, an expert panel has developed 12 model routines that will be taught across the country by instructors who have received official training.

Here's the first one for you to check out:

Three scantily-clad young women show aerobic-like moves to synthesizer music that surely will rile up grannies who prefer their traditional songs.

"Dancing in public squares represents the collective aspect of Chinese culture, but now it seems that the over enthusiasm of participants has dealt it a harmful blow with disputes over noise and venues," said Liu Guoyang, chief of the General Administration of Sport. "So we have to guide it with national standards and regulations."

While many of these "dancing grannies" have complained about being regulated, other critics say the rules don't deal with the real issue -- noise levels. A commentary on news portal RedNet said:

"What the grannies need are venues, not regulated routines. Only an increase of public sports venues can satisfy urban and rural residents' need for fitness routines such as football and square-dancing, and lessen the phenomenon where square-dancing disturbs residents and takes up all the parks and public spaces."

Another commentary on Xinmin Evening News said: "The biggest tragedy is not the square dance by grannies, but the fact that grannies have nothing else to do than square-dance."

The last thing the government should want is a revolt from these "dancing grannies" -- they know organization and coordination!

Flesh Dance

Showing off lots of leg in this chair dance complete with corset and tutu

We just came back from an interesting event at Prive, a nightclub in Lan Kwai Fong. A local school wanted to showcase that although it teaches typical fitness classes like yoga and pilates, it also has classes in aerial arts like trapeze and hoop, pole dancing and lap dancing.

Walking in late, we saw several women learning to chair dance in a lesson on the dance floor. It was fascinating to see these Chinese women, some locals, others from overseas wearing corsets, tank tops, hot pants and high heels as they shimmied, spanked their butts, kicked their legs in the air and threw their heads back.

Many tried to imitate the instructor the best they could, others seemed proud to be able to show off their bodies in lingerie complete with garter belts. The bartenders in the club couldn't believe their luck this evening, seeing so much skin.

It turns out pole dancing is one of the more popular classes at the school and one of the pole dancing instructors explained it was because the women were doing it in a safe environment and enjoyed busting loose.

Following the instructor as they go through the moves

She said many had office jobs where they had to be conservative, but the class was an outlet to express themselves, not only in their dance moves, but their costumes as well. The instructor also said the students would even discuss outfits and how they were going to make them, and so there was the added component of craft-making.

We wondered if it was about women losing their inhibitions and becoming more comfortable with being sexy, which the instructor said could be another possibility. We asked if many of the students did this for their boyfriends, and she agreed, saying some ask to learn special moves for their boyfriend's birthday, but she also added some "wouldn't give a s*** what their boyfriend thought!"

It just very interesting to see how pole dancing, and chair and lap dancing have become so popular in what one would think on the surface was quite a conservative, straight-laced city for the most part.

But it is also a positive indication that people are interested in finding outlets for their creative energies, from making leather crafts to singing karaoke to pole dancing. This is a good thing because the last thing Hong Kong needs is more stressed out people!