Interview by William Chan
The Dance Studio Macau (TDSM) is going to hold its 15th Anniversary performance “Come Back Home” at the Macau Tower Convention and Entertainment Centre on December 1, combining different street dance performances, dancer and producer Wina Tang Weng Wa (鄧詠華) told the Post in an online interview last week.
Since 2006, The Dance Studio Macau has been dedicated to promoting local street dance culture, striving to create dances with local characteristics, and expanding theatrical education to cultivate more local dance talents.
Tang started learning to dance at the age of eight and joined the Hou Kong Middle School dance group, where she began to explore street dance. As a founding member of The Dance Studio Macau, she noted that after graduating from Hou Kong Middle School, along with a group of schoolmates who shared her passion for dance and had lost their school platform for dancing, they came together to establish the dance studio.
At that time, their main intention was to continue dancing with friends, with no initial plans to turn it into a profession. “In the beginning, we had to pay the rent out of our own pockets, each contributing thousands of patacas monthly and taking on extra jobs to cover the expenses,” Tang said.
Now in her thirties, Tang reminisced that in the early 2000s, Macau lacked street dance training institutions. She utilised university breaks and holidays to travel to Hong Kong and Taiwan for further training, and after saving up from her part-time jobs, she expanded her learning to places like Japan, South Korea, and the United States, continuously honing her skills in dancing.
From the days when street dance was seen as rebellious to now blossoming at entertainment venues worldwide and even having become an Olympic sport, Tang said that she is grateful for the shifting perception of street dance in Macau. This positive change has allowed children to learn this kind of dance with confidence, and said she believes that the future of street dance in Macau holds broader and deeper development prospects.
Becoming an instructor, choreographer, educator, and performer all together, Tang hopes to continue passing on the art of dance. She vividly remembers that when she first joined the dance team, her instructor told her: “Dancing is tiring. Those who persist are the ones who love dance. I don’t need to select them; they choose dance.” To this day, the idea of refining dancers and nurturing individuals deeply influences Tang from her time with the dance team, and as long as there are students willing to learn, she said that she will continue to teach.
200 performers, ranging from children to working adults, will showcase their talents in diverse groups on Sunday, December 1, featuring a variety of dance styles such as hip-hop and jazz. Tickets are priced at 150 patacas. For more information, visit:
www.facebook.com/tdsm.adult
My friends and I (centre, third row) pose with our instructor Wina Tang reclining in front of our group, at The Dance Studio Macau (TDSM) in Nape last year.
This file photo shows Wina Tang Weng Wa (鄧詠華) posing. – Photos provided by Tang
