Interview with Master Ng 舞龍⸺與吳師傅對談

Pe fo mancePe fo mance

Introduction to Master Ng

Mr Ng Kwong-nam, or Master Ng, spent his childhood in the famed Pokfulam Village in Hong Kong. He learned about fire dragon dance when he was young and has been devoted to the tradition for the past three decades. With his passion to promote traditional fire dragon dance culture, Ng founded a martial arts club that bears his name to offer training to future generations. The fire dragon dance has become an annual Mid-Autumn Festival event on the streets of Aberdeen.

Performance – Interview with Master Ng

CHAT

Ng

Master Ng, how did you encounter fire dragon dance in the first place?

Fire dragon dance is a tradition in Pokfulam Village, so it’s been in my life since I was born. All villagers aged over 40 should have participated in the tradition. I remember I was only eight when I playfully visited my neighbours and asked for lai see. A dollar or so was a big deal at that age. The fire dragon dance did not happen annually; it halted for a few years. I have participated over 20 times. The tradition resumed a few years after 2000 and the attention to this example of intangible cultural heritage has increased ever since.

CHAT

Ng

Would you describe the fire dragon dance in details?

Though different places and villages have their own ways of celebrating, it always takes place during the Mid Autumn Festival. The annual dance in Tai Hang is held for three consecutive evenings, whereas in Pokfulam it used to be held for the first two evenings only. In Aberdeen it is only on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar.

This is my sixth year of organising the event in Aberdeen, following the cultural tourism festival in South District in 2013. On average about 140 to 150 people take part every year. While my younger brother takes charge of the Pokfulam one, my goal is to introduce fire dragons to different communities so more people will recognise this tradition.

CHAT

Ng

CHAT

Ng It is a big project which takes me three to four months to prepare. For example, the administrative work includes applying for streets to be closed down, informing public transport operators about these arrangements, and planning the route with police officers. After all these years, though, organising the event has become easier.

At Mid-Autumn Festival, masters from a Taoist temple perform a consecration ceremony and district councillors deliver speeches before residents are invited to insert joss sticks into the dragon’s back. Pokfulam’s performance usually starts at seven o'clock and Aberdeen’s at half past eight, so people can attend both. After dancing for a while around the centre of Aberdeen, we extinguish the joss sticks and carry the dragon to Wah Fu Estate on foot. Then we carry on the performance by lighting the joss sticks again. In the end we arrive at the shore and send the fire dragon into the sea – “azure dragon returning to the blue”, as we call it. Having done so, we pick up the skeleton from the sea as we don't want to pollute the environment.

Who are the dance performers? What made you guys doing this together?

Most of them are fond of this tradition, and it’s this passion that bonds us together, and that encourages us to make this contribution of time and effort without recompense. Team spirit makes us stronger and maintains the tradition. We all are serious about preserving the fire dragon dance.

We also recruit members through our outreach programmes with community organisations and schools. At school, children are creative: using colour paper, putting on glasses and installing LED lights etc. These tiny dragons produced in school workshops are also part of the dance performances.

What is your biggest challenge at the moment? And your vision of the tradition?

The biggest challenge we face is to gather residents and the public at large to adopt a new tradition. We are glad that the dance at Aberdeen is becoming better known. I wish so much that every district could have its own fire dragon dance at Mid-Autumn Festival, and families be spectators or participants after dinner. I hope this tradition carries on every single year, with my own participation or that of my disciples and followers.

Ng

CHAT

Ng

Please tell us about the co-creation process with Taguchi.

We were introduced by Him (curator Him Lo). In the beginning I was quite sceptical about this project. I would have never imagined this dragon’s head and its cubic body parts. We met shortly after Taguchi arrived Hong Kong, and then I got to understand the thinking behind it, and found the concept very meaningful and extremely creative. Fire dragons can be made this way.

I wasn’t involved in coming up with the idea with Taguchi, only in the later stages when he had technical problems and required support. I suggested, for example, that he drill a hole in the bamboo and thread wire through to strengthen the cubic shape.

I was heavily involved in the performance. Although the Spun Dragon was so different from a fire dragon, with each body cube isolated, we had a month’s rehearsals. Eventually the outcome was wonderful and the performance was very satisfying.

How did you feel about the collaboration with the artist?

This is a vivid example of merging tradition, art and culture. The co-creation process was always beyond expectation – how would the body be a cube? How would weaving make the head possible? These ideas were mindblowing, and inspired me to introduce more visual and functional elements in fire dragon making.

I was completely open-minded about Taguchi’s way of making the dragon, as I knew it was his work. If I were stubborn enough to disapprove of an angular dragon, this collaboration couldn’t happen. One point I did insist on was the eyes. I recommended tying torches to represent the eyes, as dotting the eyes, as if bringing the dragon to life, is a ritual performed before the dance on the same day.

If someone else invites me to collaborate, I will definitely take this experience and Taguchi’s creative approach as a reference point. He is absolutely inspiring.

(Interviewed and written by Sylvia Feng)

吳江南師傅介紹

吳江南師傅在香港仔薄扶林村長大，從小便接觸舞火龍，累積 30 多年經驗。現在主力 推廣舞龍文化及國術，並創辦「吳江南國術體育會」，培訓下一代。而且，每年的中秋 節都在香港仔街頭舞火龍，藉此秉承及推廣舞火龍的傳統文化。

舞龍⸺與吳師傅對談

CHAT 六廠

吳

CHAT 六廠

吳

吳師傅是怎樣與火龍結緣的？

火龍是薄扶林村的傳統文化活動，自出世就有這習俗。現在超過40歲 的村民大多都接觸過火龍。從8歲開始，那時候只是為了拿利是，一家 家拜訪，一元、兩元，累積起來在當時算是很大筆錢了。雖然不是年年 都玩火龍，但到現在也有20多年了。我們村也停辦過幾年，到零幾年 又復辦，大家也越來越關注火龍這項非物質文化遺產。

可否描述一下舞火龍的過程？

一年一次的中秋節。不同地方舞龍的安排、方式都不一樣，例如大坑就 是舞三天。薄扶林村以前就是會在八月十四和八月十五進行兩天。而我 在香港仔舞龍就是八月十五這一天。 從 2013 年南區旅遊文化節開始算起，今年已經是我在香港仔舞龍的第 6年了，每年有大概140到150人參與。薄扶林村也依舊有火龍表演， 主要由我弟弟負責，而我則想將火龍帶到社區裡，帶給市民，把火龍 推廣出去，讓更多人認識火龍這項傳統文化。 舞火龍有許多前期工作要做，我一年會花三到四個月的時間去做關於這 條龍的工作。例如行政程序上，要申請封路，通知小巴站、巴士站，要 計劃好整條線路並帶去與警察開會。經過這幾年不斷累積經驗，整個活 動也順利了很多。

CHAT 六廠

吳

CHAT 六廠

吳

CHAT 六廠

吳 在八月十五這一天，我們會請師傅來開光，一些區議員會講話，然後我 們邀請市民一起把香插到火龍的背上。薄扶林村7時開始，而我們這裡 是8時半，表演時間分開也好讓市民可以分身欣賞兩邊的表演。在香港 仔中心舞龍之後，我們會將香熄滅，徒步帶著龍到華富邨，再點上香火， 舞龍。最後來到瀑布灣，送龍入海，叫做蒼龍歸海。當然，最後我們會 找船隻將龍從海中撈起，不能污染環境。

參與舞龍的成員都來自哪裡？讓你們堅持至今的動力是什麼？

舞火龍的成員多數是愛好這項文化，興趣把大家凝聚一起。這是一件讓 你付出時間、精力但並沒有實質回報的事情，必須有一班死黨互相支持 才可以堅持下來。大家都很認真的在為火龍這項事業付出。 除此之外，我們也會和不同的社區組織、學校合作，前段時間剛剛進行 了教學生做龍的工作坊。在這些工作坊中，學生可以發揮自己的無限創 意，用彩紙、給龍戴眼鏡及裝 LED 燈等等。這些小龍也會出現在中秋 舞火龍的活動中。

面對的最大挑戰是什麼？對火龍有何冀盼？

最大的挑戰就是如何凝聚街坊、市民，建立一個新的傳統。現在很欣慰 的是越來越多人開始知道香港仔有火龍表演。我希望中秋節每個社區都 有火龍，家家戶戶飯後都可以出來看火龍、舞火龍。希望我有生之年可 以將舞火龍辦下去，徒弟們在將來也可以傳承下去。

能否給我們講講與田口行弘的合作過程？

是通過 Him（盧樂謙）的穿針引線。最開始我聽到計劃的時候是很猶疑 的，因為我聽說龍身是立方的，也沒有見過龍頭是什麼樣子，後來田口 來到香港，大家見面，我也開始逐漸了解他的作品，整個構思非常有意 思，可謂創意無限，原來這樣都可以做到一條龍。 田口的前期創作部分我都沒有任何意見，主要是在後期階段，他的龍身 應該怎樣連接起來，我在這方面給了一些技術意見和支持。例如我建議 他，在竹子上穿一個小孔，再將鐵線穿過，這樣整個方塊就不會那麼容 易散了。

CHAT 六廠

吳 更多的意見是在舞龍表演的部分。雖然整條龍與火龍很不同，中間也沒 有繩連接，但是我們有一個月的排練時間，所以最終呈現的效果是很好 的，整個表演也十分順暢。

對於這次與田口的合作有何感受？

原來傳統、藝術、文化可以有很好的融合。在合作中往往會有意想不到的 事情發生，為什麼龍身可以是方形的？甚至還可以在上面織布？他的創意 非常好，甚至啟發了我去思考能否在火龍的製作中融合一些新的元素。 對於田口的龍，我抱有完全開放的態度，因為這是田口的創作，如果我一 直堅持「龍身不可以四方，一定要圓形」，那也無法實現合作。當然我也 堅持了龍眼睛的位置一定要擺放手電筒，才得以在表演當天點睛。 如果下次再有人找我合作，我甚至會以田口的紡織龍去給他們做創作上的 參考，真是創意無限！

（採訪及撰稿：馮昱瑄）