Dimensions of Community Dance as a Social Practice — Some Observations from Dance and Community Participatory Dance Projects in 2019

Hong Kong has seen more community dance and community participatory dance projects in recent years. In the 2019 Community Cultural Ambassador Scheme, five out of twenty performing arts projects came with dance elements, liberating the definition of dance and enriching the social significance of dance creations. However, little attention has been given to their values, practices, aesthetics, and dimensions of assessment. This essay strives to evaluate three community dance and community participatory dance projects as well as one cross-district cultural exchange scheme under the framework of ‘arts as social practice’. The discussion of these four projects in 2019 will be translated into four dimensions for assessment — spatial quality, aesthetic experience, horizontal learning, and structural changes.