The Value of Historical Materials and Criticism on the Archival Process: ‘Research Project — Oral History of Hong Kong Dance Development’

The City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC) was awarded ‘Outstanding Services to Dance’ at the 22nd Hong Kong Dance Awards for its ‘Research Project — Oral History of Hong Kong Dance Development’ (Research Project) in 2020. The award statement reads as follows:

Researchers Lee Hoi-yin Joanna and Lam Heyee spent almost two years conducting, transcribing and analysing interviews in Hong Kong, the US and Canada with ten pioneers of local dance. The book The Unspoken Dance: An Oral History of Hong Kong Dance (1950s–70s) is an invaluable record of the cultural history of Hong Kong dance, preserving the recollections and observations of these key contributors to the development of dance as an art form in our city and inspiring our empathy and understanding for their achievements.

As the statement says, everyone involved has devoted a great deal of time and effort to executing the project, the beginnings of which can be traced back to the ‘Contestable Funding Pilot Scheme for the Major Performing Arts Groups’ initiated by the Home Affairs Bureau in 2015. Finally, in 2018, The Unspoken Dance: An Oral History of Hong Kong Dance (1950s–70s) (The Unspoken Dance) was published and a dedicated website built by the CCDC for the project (the Website) was launched.