HKAPA

Artistic Director of the Hong Kong Dance Company, and multiaward winning dancer and choreographer, Leung Kwok-shing is a veteran of 30 years in the field of dance. After early training in Chinese classical and ethnic dance at the Guangdong Dance School, he joined the Hong Kong Dance Company (HKDC) in 1981 as one of its first cohort of dancers. He later served as rehearsal master, choreographer and director, and led the company in numerous performances including its first grand dance dramas Romance of the Eastern Sea and New Flower of the Mirror.

Leung took up choreographing early in his career, creating highly acclaimed dance dramas which were based on traditional Chinese art and dance forms, and which brought together eastern and western cultures. He has a prolific choreographic profile: his early works include The Story of Zhou Xuan, Suppressed Romance, and Rouge (a collaborative work with the renowned dancer/choreographer Shuqiao); while his more recent works include The Smiling Proud Wanderer, Snow Fox, Poet Dongpo, Two Swallows - Ode to Wu Guangzhong and most significantly, the richly woven and highly acclaimed Qingming Riverside. Created to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover, the work was then performed in the 5th Beijing Arts Festival in 2007, and toured to Hangzhou, Nanjing and Guandong that same year. It was also staged in the National Centre for the Performing Arts as part of the Meet in Beijing 2008 Arts Festival, where it was honoured as the “most marvellous Chinese dance poem of recent times”. The work also triumphed at the 2008 Hong Kong Dance Awards, and won the Special Grand Award and First Class Award for Choreography and Direction at the 2008 Guangdong Art Festival. In 2009, Qingming Riverside was also nominated for the Top Ten Best Epic Dance Poems in the highly prestigious 5th Hehua Awards. It was also invited to represent Hong Kong at the 2012 Shanghai Expo as part of the Shanghai Grand Theatre Dance Festival.

In 2006, Leung established the 8/F Platform with the aim of providing opportunities for young choreographers, experimental performances, and artistic exchanges. In the same year, he founded the Company’s Children’s Troupe and Youth Troupe. In 2008, he created The Call of Life to raise funds for the victims of the Sichuan earthquake; and was also involved in the choreography of Hong Kong - Equestrian Capital, which represented Hong Kong at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in the Beijing National Stadium; and at the opening ceremony of the 2009 East Asian Games in Hong Kong. For his outstanding contribution to the development of arts and cultural activities, Leung won the Hong Kong Arts Development Award in 2008; and was presented with the Commendation Certificate by the Secretary for Home Affairs in 2009.