Cover ‘Glam Rock’ by the Hong Kong Ballet (Photo: Tatler Hong Kong/Zed Leets)
‘Glam Rock’ by the Hong Kong Ballet (Photo: Tatler Hong Kong/Zed Leets)
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Inspired by the music of Canto-pop rock band Beyond, Queen and Depeche Mode, Hong Kong Ballet’s ‘Glam Rock’ liberates dancers from ballet conventions, from choreography to costume design
Rock, pop and electronic music aren’t usually associated with ballet. But the Hong Kong Ballet defies typical impressions of the art form in its production this month, Glam Rock. Instead of the graceful soutenu or elegant arabesque allongé of classical, romantic pieces, Glam Rock showcases powerful, sharp movement—there’s even some tap dancing—paired with punchy musical genres of the Seventies and Eighties.
Running from April 10 to 12 at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, the show comprises three one-act pieces. Martlet, choreographed by the company’s resident choreographer Ricky Hu Song-wei, is set to the music of the legendary Canto-rock band Beyond. The title refers to a mythical bird that is always in flight, a nod to the desire for freedom championed by Beyond’s late frontman, Wong Ka-kui. Greek-born choreographer Andonis Foniadakis’ Strangelove, which had its world premiere here with the Hong Kong Ballet in 2024, is paired with the dark, atmospheric sounds of Depeche Mode. The company’s artistic director Septime Webre describes this work as having an “unbridled physicality” that pushes dancers to a “do or die” edge. And closing the night is the Asia premiere of American choreographer Trey McIntyre’s Mercury Half-Life, a tribute to the showmanship and what Webre calls “peacockness” of rock icon Freddie Mercury and Queen. This abstract work, which incorporates elements of tap dance, serves as a meditation on a great artist who only lived half his life.
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Above ‘Glam Rock’ by the Hong Kong Ballet (Photo: Tatler Hong Kong/Zed Leets)
‘Glam Rock’ by the Hong Kong Ballet (Photo: Tatler Hong Kong/Zed Leets)
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Glam Rock is vastly different in style and tone from what most people might imagine to be a ballet company’s repertoire—Swan Lake, Cinderella and Nutcracker. Six weeks after it finishes, Hong Kong Ballet is staging Sleeping Beauty, which Webre describes as “the most perfect of all 19th-century ballets and the pinnacle of classicism”. “These are about control and harmoniousness. Sleeping Beauty tells a wonderful fairy tale of good versus evil, but it also sends a message that the world is ordered and everything is okay,” he says. “There’s great beauty but not much spontaneity.”
Glam Rock is a departure from this approach. “Ballet has been considered a language of establishment, but I actually think it can reflect on so much of the human experience. It is so pliable and can be used in so many different ways,” says Webre. The music used also reflects this idea of anti-establishment; songs by Queen, Beyond and Depeche Mode celebrated self-acceptance and encouraged stemming the tide of prevailing social currents. “Early rockers in the 1950s and ‘60s were rebelling against the social mores that came before. There was Elvis Presley, who was shut down by the police because his [gyrating] hips were considered too sexually provocative. Then the rockers later followed—young people were forging their own trail,” he says. “It’s youth quake and the music of freedom.”
‘Glam Rock’ by the Hong Kong Ballet (Photo: Tatler Hong Kong/Zed Leets)
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The choreography in all three pieces is “spontaneous” and “on the edge”, reminding the audience to live life to its fullest by taking risks. This parallels the determination of bands like Beyond, whose socially conscious lyrics revolutionised the local music scene. Webre has wanted to bring Beyond to the ballet stage since he arrived in Hong Kong in 2017. Searching for a roadmap to develop repertoire with Hong Kong roots, he was encouraged by colleagues to listen to the band. “I just fell in love with it,” he recalls. The band’s music serves as a spiritual anchor for the production. The work is aimed particularly at local audiences who grew up with these important songs, using the universal language of dance to amplify the optimism and humanity found in the band’s lyrics.
A central highlight of Martlet is the involvement of fashion designer Robert Wun, who made history in 2023 as the first Hong Kong designer to present at Haute Couture Week in Paris. Webre was blown away by Wun’s “audacious and theatrical” show at the Hong Kong Palace Museum in 2024, describing it as the most provocative design he had seen in the city. Following a lunch meeting, Wun agreed to join the project, marking a historic merging of haute couture and contemporary ballet. For Wun, joining the project was a way to reconnect with his hometown, as well as to “see how I would also challenge my relationship with my upbringing, with my roots, with my culture,” Wun tells Tatler.
Robert Wun and the costumes he designed for Hong Kong Ballet’s ‘Glam Rock’ (Photo: Tatler Hong Kong/Hungmc)
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His designs for Martlet are not direct references to the Canto-rock band’s apparel or songs, but rather an interpretation of the determination and passion in the pursuit of freedom. His colour palette helps to tell this story: red for burning passion, black and white for reality and regal purple for the dream of freedom. Central to his design is the metaphor of a bird spreading its wings, chasing that dream.
Translating his signature sculptural volume into functional stage-wear requires significant consideration; after all, unlike couture, ballet costumes must function like athletic gear. “You can’t do everything too oversized because then it loses the elegant side of what the dancers’ movement is going to look like,” he explains. Despite these functional requirements, Webre encouraged Wun to maintain his “audacious DNA”. Wun says the show will feature a statuesque dancer in a huge, dramatic gown akin to his Paris runways—a costume so grandiose that traditional ballet cannot be danced in it, serving instead as a metaphorical character.
‘Glam Rock’ by the Hong Kong Ballet (Photo: Tatler Hong Kong/Zed Leets)
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Though Wun is not a dancer himself, he holds the art form in high regard, and has previously designed costumes for Britain’s Royal Ballet. His introduction to dance occurred when he was a nine-year-old in Hong Kong, watching a travelling Russian troupe perform Swan Lake. He was later inspired by an Alexander McQueen show in the early 2000s that opened with a classical dance performance, illustrating how movement can translate a powerful story. He sees a clear parallel between the discipline of ballet and the world of haute couture. “Given what happened lately in pop culture, this question [of whether my career is inspired by ballet] is so ‘cute’,” he says, referring to American French actor Timothée Chalamet’s recent contentious comment on the ballet and opera being boring and dying arts. “What is [inspiring] for me is how people in ballet and opera are so determined to be very good at something, and they sacrifice every single minute of their life in perfecting that craft. It takes so much discipline, passion and determination.
“Pressure makes diamonds—that’s what I feel about ballet and any historical art forms. I’m no ballet dancer, and I’ve never practised anything in that area, but I always look at it with so much respect and admiration.”
The Hong Kong Ballet will shake up the format of its annual ball this year by integrating the Saturday performance of Glam Rock with the company’s most important gala event of the year. Guests and ball patrons will be taken to The Henderson for a Studio 54-themed after-party at its rooftop event space Cloud 39, allowing the dancers and the audience to extend and celebrate the energy of the production in a modern, youthful setting.
Zabrina is the Senior Editor, Arts and Culture of Tatler Hong Kong. She specialises in performing arts, visual art and film. Her wanderlust was first fuelled by the Mighty Rovers Antarctica Expedition 2010. Over the years, she has interviewed A-list artists and filmmakers, including Oscar winners Chlóe Zhao and Tim Yip, Golden Horse winner Sylvia Chang, In the Mood for Love cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Pachinko author Min Jin Lee, and Coachella’s first Chinese solo singer Jackson Wang. She won gold at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards for her 2021 feature on the waves of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.
