Interview: Daisy Ho

With her light, petite frame and air of elegance, you would be fooled into thinking Daisy Ho had been a ballerina all her life. Dressed in a simple mint green shift dress (her current favourite colour) and high heels, her curls teased into a bounce by her stylist, the deputy managing director and CFO of Shun Tak Group looks every bit the part of a dancer. And taking into consideration the fact that she assumed the role of Hong Kong Ballet’s chairman just this past April, it would have been a fitting appointment for a lifelong fan of the art.

The truth is, Ho did learn ballet from the tender age of five, only to stop after a year of practise. “For our generation, it was natural for girls to do the usual hobbies – ballet, piano, art,” she explains. “When I was learning ballet, it was one of the most exciting moments in my life.” Ho recounts the hours of hard graft spent perfecting just one single movement. “I kept on practicing to make sure it was absolutely right. I enjoyed doing it, but when it was time to go into primary school, my mom said I should stop to see if I would adapt well to school.” Ho gave up the dance classes and never did them again.

Part of the reason why she never returned was in part due to vanity and pride, as by the time she was finally progressing and getting used to the classroom, Ho did not wish to resume classes at the studio where she would now be among far younger pupils. “It would have been too embarrassing,” Ho chuckles. But ballet still stuck with her throughout her childhood. Her father, Stanley, would take Ho and her sisters Pansy and Maisy to see The Nutcracker every Christmas and, even when she moved to study in the US, she would make time to watch the ballet. “I made a point to watch not only The Nutcracker, and not just classical ballets, but also modern productions.

“When I was young, I still remember the reason why I liked ballet was not because of the costume or the set,” Ho recalls. “I think then, I already appreciated the moves, the posture, and the poise. It gives me this calmness, this serenity and joy watching it. It’s very inspirational.” It is this lifelong appreciation of the art that has given Ho the edge as the newly-appointed chairman of the Hong Kong Ballet. And no one can say she does not put in the hard work – mentally or physically. Earlier this month, Ho – along with vice chairman Mira Yeh and committee members Natalie Chan, Candy Chuang, and Vene Cheng– surprised guests at the Hong Kong Ballet Ball with a high-octane dance routine choreographed by Yuri Ng. When asked about the performance weeks prior to the event, which took place on June 7, Ho couldn’t help but laugh. “This is never to be repeated again. It will be the first and last time!”

Read our interview with Hong Kong Ballet vice chairman Mira Yeh

Resuming a more serious tone, Ho explains that returning to the studio reinforced for her just how important it is to provide support for the Hong Kong Ballet’s dancers. “By going through the dance practises, it made me appreciate more just how hard our dancers have been working,” she says. Ho and her team spent several hours at a time rehearsing the high-energy routine and, although she herself was an athlete in her teens, nothing compared to the exertion of non-stop dancing. “We were sweating like crazy and were so tired,” Ho admits. “Ballet may look fragile, soft, and gentle, but it’s very rigorous.”

It brings us to the point of why Ho is working so hard for the Hong Kong Ballet, despite her commitments to the Shun Tak Group. Lest we forget her role first and foremost as businessman, the pragmatic side in her comes out at times, through her matter of fact tone and non-nonsensical manner. “I come from a commercial world,” she says at one point. “I’m sorry, but I’m very straightforward – to me, [the Ballet] is also a product.” One of her greatest challenges is controlling the instinct to compartmentalise the ballet company. Though her passion for the art was instilled at an early age, it wasn’t until she began to work for the organisation in 2008 she realised she was dealing with something much more difficult than numbers and concrete – human beings.

“Selling properties is great. There’s no feeling, and I like it because it’s bricks,” Ho says. “But ballet is different. You need a softer touch, because there’s a certain emotion attached to it. Only through joining the company did I learn more about the dancers.” One highlight of her work with the company thus far has been the establishment of the dancers sponsorship fund, which gives ordinary people the avenue to support the Ballet financially. The fund has raised over HK$6.2m to date since its inception two years ago, and Ho is also working on ways to promote ballet through outreach programmes and moving ballet into the mainstream. “I want to showcase our dancers and our productions on an international arena, because I’d like to say, humbly, that we have one of the finer ballet groups in Asia. I’d like to create more mass awareness, and enlarge the audience base. There are just too many forms of entertainment in Hong Kong and trying to groom the next generation to enjoy this art form is not an easy thing.”

She grins. “But of course, the movie Black Swan helped.” Once again returning to a more sober tone, Ho explains that in her coming tenure as chairman (for at least the next few years), there is much more ground to be gained. “I hope I can do more for [Hong Kong Ballet]. I believe in teamwork. The dancers are up front, and I am in the background, doing whatever I can to run the company. I must make sure they are well taken care of, and get the recognition they deserve.”

Watch our exclusive interview with Tan Yuan Yuan, Hong Kong Ballet's guest principal dancer