The language of dance

Press, 15 August 1984, Page 20

The language of dance

By

JOAN BEGG

A visiting ballerina, Louise Hawke, did not converse with her dance partner in the five years they worked together. She was fluent in English, he in Mandarin, and the two used a mixture of pantomime and the universal French ballet terms to communicate. The language is the only obstacle that Ms Hawke, an expatriate New Zealander, has faced as a dancer in Hong Kong, the country which has been home for her and her family for the last five years. Louise Hawke, nee Mcllroy, is in Christchurch to dance the lead role in Russell Kerr’s production of “Lisette” or %a Fille Mai Gardee” from August 18 to August 28 at the Southern Ballet Theatre. Ms Hawke left the New Zealand* Ballet' Company, which she joined when only 16, to train in London. Six months later she joined the Gulbenkian Ballet in Portugal where she worked with various renowned classical choreographers and dancers touring in Europe and South Africa. She returned to the New Zealand Ballet soon after.

From 1972 to 1978 she lived in Christchurch, attending university parttime, raising a family and writing ballet reviews for the “Listener” and local

newspapers. The decision to emigrate to Hong Kong was prompted by unemployment Her husband, Keith Hawke, was having difficulty finding work in his profession as documentary film-maker, and Ms Hawke found the constant touring of the New Zealand Ballet Company (the only professional company at the time) incompatible with raising a young family. The steps into professional ballet in Hong Kong were simple for a dancer of Ms Hawke’s calibre. She was attending classes at the newly-formed Hong Kong Academy (now called the Hong Kong Ballet Company) when asked to join. The company has grown from a team of four dancers and teacher to one of 20 dancers in five years. The dancers are mainly young Hong Kong Chinese, older members of the Chinese Beijing Ballet and Filippinos. Mandarin is the usual language of instruction. Ms Hawke said she developed a smattering of Mandarin — class language — so could understand basic instructions. The ballet steps were denoted in French, although “French spoken with a Beijing accent comes out pretty funny sometimes.”

Last year Ms Hawke “parted ways with the company.’’ She is now a freelance dancer, teacher and choreographer. “It got to the stage where the more I was prepared to do, the more responsibility I was given and the more work was heaped on. I danced flat out, for five years,” she said. Ms Hawke has been active in her new sphere, teaching master classes at the summer dance school, helping select the first dance students for the new school of Performing Arts and choreographing a team of young dancers for the Hong Kong youth dance festival. She returns to Hong Kong on August 30 to dance and has more performances lined up in October. Some are with her old ballet company. Classical ballet was popular with the young in Hong Kong. Older people still went to watch the Chinese classical dance company, but the young were not interested in traditional Chinese art forms at all. They considered them passe, old fashioned and

were embarrassed by their culture, which is a “hideous shame,” Ms Hawke said. Her reasons for coining to Christchurch are straightforward. The drawcard was the opportunity to dance under the direction of Russell Kerr, director of the Southern Ballet Ms Hawke said she first met Mr Kerr when he was involved in the New Zealand Ballet Company. He has “always commanded great respect all over the world,” she said, adding “If he was working in Antarctica Td go.” Most dancers of “ballerina” status went where the renowned choreographers and teachers were. Having a family meant one was "totally reliant on the local situation,” said Ms Hawke. In many ways it was good as it made one determined to work with whoever comes along rather than only seeking out the good ones. And the future? Ms Hawke said she had tried to do other things — and still kept up her writing — but ballet “is a physical high that’s very hard to come off.”