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Explanatory Notes

Hong Kong Dance Overview 2020 is a bi-lingual publication. English and Chinese texts are presented in parallel except for the following:

  1. Transliteration of individual’s and organisation’s names in Chinese adheres to the usual manner adopted by the individual/organisation in discussion. For others, Hanyu pinyin will be adopted.

  2. Names of people, artworks, performances, articles, and books which are identified only in one language would be translated as necessary and listed alongside its original. For others, Hanyu pinyin will be adopted.

  3. In the case there is no published translation for non-Chinese vocabularies, such vocabularies will be transliterated, supplemented with convention, in the Chinese version. While only non-Chinese vocabularies are shown, they will be put in quotation marks. Non-English Romanised vocabularies will be kept in their original forms in italics in the English version.

  4. The writing style is unedited. Cantonese verbal vocabularies and expressions, local jargons, and dialects will be displayed as written Chinese or, if the writer prefers to keep the Cantonese ways, they will be put in quotation marks, and supplementary meaning in written Chinese will be provided in parenthesis in the Chinese version. In the English version, they will be transliterated and translated.

  5. When evaluating the appropriateness of vocabularies, the following will be considered:

• Whether the vocabulary is proper Chinese/ English. If it is, modern conventional usage is employed;

• In cases of vocabularies adopted/ translated/ mutated from foreign origins such as the terms ‘science’, ‘culture’, and ‘curatorship’, rhetoric rules of the source language are observed with adjustment according to conventional Hong Kong usage.

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The Editorial Team observes the following principles for writer invitation and editing:

1. ‘Overview’ 2020:

  • The period discussed in the essays spans between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2020.

  • The incidents discussed in the essays took place in Hong Kong.

  • Reference and case studies in the essays are not limited to Hong Kong.

2. Essays:

  • The Overview contains research-based essays intended to archive the incidents in the year which are significant to Hong Kong’s dance development. Essays are positioned as literature for the observation, record, and study of Hong Kong’s dance.  

  • Distributed as website content. Contributions on invitation. The viewpoints and opinions given are unedited.

  • Images in the Overview are either provided by the image copyright owner(s) or the organisations to which the owner(s) belong(s).

  • Essays are available for download on this website. Prior approval from the Editorial Team must be sought for copy, citation, and translation.

3. Dance Forms:

The dance forms discussed in this edition’s Essays are ballet, Chinese, modern and contemporary dance. Except in the cases when the writers put forward his/her definition, the dance forms are defined as:

a. Ballet: A social activity originated in the Italian Renaissance court. After its adoption in France, the French court developed the ballet de cour (court ballet) by introducing performative story-telling elements.

b. Chinese dance: Dance created predominantly for stage performance following institutionalised knowledge and technical convention after the establishment of PRC in 1949.

c. Modern dance: Originated at the beginning of the 20th Century as a subversion to the ballet tradition. It underlines the expression of individual consciousness and style and liberates the body from movement frameworks. Storytelling is not required. 

d. Contemporary dance: Emerged when dance artists all over the world strive to reject being labelled ‘modern’, a label which they regard as American-centric. ‘Contemporary dance’ is increasingly accepted to describe the quest for the characteristics of the society to which one belongs, cultural identity, and freedom of creation. Still in its process of development, its definition is yet to be nailed down.

e. Street dance: In the 1960s, as an immense Hispanic population poured into the United States, these immigrants and their descendants gradually developed a culture of their own to vent their suffering as they led lives of oppression and marginalisation. Hence in the 1970s, a unique dance culture began on the two coasts of the United States. Marginalised, their dance was not accepted in the respected circles and could only take place on the streets, and so was called ‘street dance’.

4. Chinese and English Style Guide: Chicago style.

5. Spelling: English (British).

6. Dictionary: 

 Chinese Version

English version

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