Dance, Times, Politics
—The Dance that Evolved through the Political Vortex of the 1950s and 1960s

Lam Heyee

As a method of historical enquiry, the distinctive characteristic of “oral history” is that it starts from the individuals and retraces history through in-depth interviews. While there may be limitations to oral history, such as the interviewees’ subjective points of view and unclear recollections, it can be a useful supplement to written historical records. On the one hand, this project sets out to fill in the gaps in the early development of Hong Kong dance; on the other, it reorganises these first-hand accounts which may be used as the basis for related research in the future. This essay is an attempt to sum up the personal experiences of ten pioneers in the dance field, and an attempt to relate these experiences to social history. As the project takes its starting point in the stories of these ten pioneers, there may be inadequacies in some aspects. Rather than offering an in-depth examination of the era, it illuminates the context of development and raises certain questions for reflection. We look forward to seeing further research on this subject in the future.