[中][ENG] 楊君儒談香港舞蹈教育 Accidental Dancer, an interview with Frederick Yeung
舞跡可尋 In Search of a Dance Story
楊君儒談香港舞蹈教育 Accidental Dancer, an interview with Frederick Yeung
楊君儒（前排右四）在香港學界舞蹈協會與教育局合辦的2016教師舞蹈課程（西方舞補充教材）任導師。 Frederick Yeung (Front row, 4th from the right) with participants in a teacher's course (Western Folk Dance) he taught co-organized by Hong Kong Schools Dance Association and the Education Bureau in 2016. 圖片由學校舞蹈節提供 Photo provided by SDF
學校舞蹈節於香港舞蹈年獎2017獲頒「傑出舞蹈教育」。學校舞蹈節已舉辦了53屆，多年來不少教育家默默推動香港舞蹈教育，其中一位幕後功臣就是楊君儒。楊Sir是舞蹈教師、體育教師、土風舞舞蹈家。中學時期一次巧合下接觸土風舞後，就踏上土風舞和舞蹈教育的生涯。
The Schools Dance Festival was awarded Outstanding Dance Education at the 19th Hong Kong Dance Awards. The Festival is in its 53rd year of operation and during those many years scores of educators have worked tirelessly and without fanfare to push dance education in Hong Kong. One of their many unsung heroes is Frederick Yeung. Yeung is a dance instructor, P.E. teacher, and a folk dancer. After an accidental encounter with folk dance during high school, he embarked on a career of folk dance and dance education.
第52屆學校舞蹈節現代舞組別優勝者 Winner of the 52nd Schools Dance Festival- Modern Dance 攝 Photo: 勁彩影藝社 Powerful Colour Image. 圖片由學校舞蹈節提供 Photo provided by SDF
見證香港舞蹈教育變遷 Witnessing Changes
楊君儒任教師多年，將要退休。談起如何與舞蹈結緣，熱愛運動的他憶起中學時球賽小休期間聽到某課室傳來的土風舞音樂聲吸引，好奇之下便嘗試加入，一試便喜歡上了，還加入了土風舞學會。當時香港學校的舞蹈教育以西方土風舞為主，所用的教材是一套美國公司Radio Corporation of America（RCA）出版的土風舞音樂唱片資料，由港英政府教育署在六十年代引入。RCA輯錄了美國移民的家鄉土風音樂，配以文字簡述土風舞動作。楊在中學時期接觸的土風舞，主要來自於RCA的資料，老師們需要發揮創意，以舞蹈演譯文字。
Yeung, who has been a teacher for many years, will soon retire. Looking back over his time in education, he talked about how his connection to folk dance began. A sports lover, Yeung recalled hearing some folk dance music in a secondary school classroom during the intermission of a ball game, and was attracted by it. As a result, out of curiosity, he gave folk dance a try and instantly fell in love with it before formally joining the school’s folk dance society. At that time, dance education in Hong Kong schools was dominated by Western folk dance. Teaching materials were a series of informative texts on folk dance recordings published by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), which was introduced in schools by the Education Department during the 1960s. RCA compiled the folk music, with a brief description of each folk dance movement, from the home countries of American immigrants. The folk dances that Yeung came across during this period were mainly from the RCA records. Teachers using the RCA series needed to bring their creativity into full play to interpret the text through dance.
後來楊入讀葛量洪教育學院（1994年合併為香港教育學院一部分，現正名為香港教育大學），他憶述教授一句：「要裝備自己成為好的體育老師，必須要百足多爪。」他四處赴考不同的運動教練和裁判資歷，熟習體育課程裡的5大範疇，舞蹈就是其中一個範疇：「當時教授介紹我們去考英國的舞蹈教師考試，便聽話與一班同學報名去了。」楊參加的是由英國皇家舞蹈教師協會（Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, ISTD）舉辦，鍾金寶夫人執教的專業教師資格（Associate）。楊君儒是第二屆學生，而第一屆（1977年）由陳寶珠女士和鍾金寶夫人教授。豈料畢業後，鍾金寶夫人邀請他執鞭教授ISTD土風舞課程。一教，就教了三十多年，他說：「我特別敬重鍾金寶夫人，她可算是我的『伯樂』。」
Later Yeung enrolled in the Grantham Institute of Education (which merged with The Hong Kong Institute of Education in 1994, now The Education University of Hong Kong). He recalled his professor saying: "To equip yourself to become a good PE teacher, you must be a Jack-of-all-trades." Following his teacher’s advice, he went around to take different sports coaching examinations and referee qualifications, and familiarized himself with the five major categories of the physical education curriculum. Dance was one, "At that time, our Professor introduced us to the British dance teacher examination system. Our class followed him and enrolled. "The one that attrached Yeung was the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) a professional dance teacher qualification taught by Joan Campbell. Yeung was a student among its second intake – the first class in 1977 was taught by Pearl Chan and Joan Campbell. After graduating, Campbell invited him to teach the ISTD folk dance course. Having now taught the course for 30 years, he said: “I particularly respect Mrs. Campbell, she can be said to be my long-time mentor.”
1974年，學生於舞蹈節期間上演的蒙古舞。 In 1974, students performed Mongolian Dance during the festival. 圖片來源：《學校舞蹈節金禧慶典特刊》，由學校舞蹈節提供 Photo from Schools Dance Festival Golden Jubilee Special Publication, provided by SDF
此後，楊活躍於香港的舞蹈教育。為使學校舞蹈節更成熟專注，香港學界舞蹈協會（協會）於1997年成立，與教育局合辦一年一度的學校舞蹈節及舉辦眾多推廣舞蹈教育活動，楊是創會委員之一。至今，楊仍然是透過會員投票選出的執行委員及董事，亦曾經於學校舞蹈節擔任多年的西方舞評判。2001年，教育局推出《綜合舞蹈教材套》* 協作研究及發展（「種籽」）計劃，楊參與編寫西方土風舞的部分，淘汰沿用多年的RCA教材。楊樂見舞蹈節將舞蹈普及：「舞蹈節今年已發展至665間參賽學校。2004-2005年間也加入了爵士舞及街舞和體育舞蹈組別，希望容納更多舞種。 」
Since then, Yeung has been active in the dance education scene in Hong Kong. To help make the Schools Dance Festival more sophisticated and focused, the Hong Kong Schools Dance Association (SDA) was established in 1997. Together with the Education Bureau, they hold the annual Schools Dance Festival and organize numerous promotional dance activities. Yeung is one of its founding members. He continues to be a member of the Executive Council, which is elected by the members of the SDA, and has served for many years for the Schools Dance Festival as one of its judges for Western dance. In 2001, the Education Bureau launched the Dance Learning and Teaching Package* Collaborative Research and Development ("Seed") Projects. Yeung took part in the preparation of the Western folk dance unit, and the elimination of the RCA teaching kits that had been used for many years. He sees the Schools Dance Festival as a way to popularize dance. He said, "There are 665 participating schools in this year’s Schools Dance Festival, for which we have introduced the Jazz, Street Dance and DanceSport competition category in the year of 2004-2005, hoping to accommodate more dance forms in the festival."
第52屆學校舞蹈節西方舞組別優勝者 Winner of the 52nd Schools Dance Festival- Western Dance 攝Photo: 勁彩影藝社Powerful Colour Image 圖片由學校舞蹈節提供 Photo provided by SDF
是藝術教育還是體育？ Art Education or Physical Education?
舞蹈表演一般被認為是藝術，問及舞蹈教育究竟是藝術還是體育教育，球員出身的楊如此回應：「藝術教育的概念還未盛行時，舞蹈早被歸納為體育，因為是課室以外的學習。後來『藝術教育』概念興起，音樂、話劇、朗誦、畫畫等等都被認知為藝術教育，然後大家開始思考舞蹈的位置。」他形容「舞蹈」是教育的工具之一，每種工具通往不同的訓練：球類運動訓練肌肉力量，體操訓練學生的柔軟度，而舞蹈訓練學生的美感和節奏感。各種運動互補不足－例如以舞蹈令體形魁梧的球員學生身體更有美感，學習球類運動沒有的節奏感。 但從資源和師資訓練角度看，舞蹈是肢體的運動，通常體育老師比音樂老師更擅長肢體的訓練，所以舞蹈被編入體育。當然，楊亦希望香港可以開設「舞蹈教育」教師培訓專科，讓舞蹈如音樂、美術般獨立成科。
Dance is an art form. Asked whether dance education is art or physical education, Yeung, who comes from a sports background, responded, "When the concept of art education was not as prevalent as it is today, dance education was placed in the sports category in extra-curriculum activities, since it was a learning activity outside the classroom. Later, when the concept of ‘art education’ arose, music, drama, choral speaking, painting and so on were recognized as art education. It was then people started to think about the place of dance within an art educational setting.” Yeung describes dance as one of the tools for education. According to Yeung, there are different tools, with each tool leading to different kinds of training. For example, ball games are used to train muscle strength, while gymnastics train suppleness. Dance is considered the best means to train a sense of aesthetics and rhythm. Each exercise complements the others. Dance can help lengthen and stretch the bulky muscles of sportsmen, and supplement for the lack of rhythm in ball games. But from the view of resources and teacher training, dance was categorized in physical education, because teachers of sports are better at physical training than, for instance, music teachers. Consequently, dance was placed within the domain of physical education. Of course, Yeung hopes that Hong Kong can begin to launch teacher specialist training for dance education, so that dance can be regarded as an individual subject just as music and fine arts are.
楊的體育及舞蹈課還包含社交訓練、個人發展培訓：「有些學生比較笨鈍，有些女學生覺得自己美態不足。我以培養態度看待，讓他們自由選擇參與。讓跳得好的舞蹈隊同學站前排，信心不夠的可以選擇站在後排。漸漸從他們身上見到美感，就連曾經抗拒舞蹈的學生也會在畢業年願意跳華爾茲舞。」楊的舞蹈課通常揀選匈牙利舞、斯洛伐克舞為教材，當中有很多傳統的雙人舞，雖不免要與異性接觸甚至擁抱。他笑稱，大部分男生參加土風舞學會都是為了結識女生，對舞蹈的喜愛都是往後建立的。
Yeung’s dance class also includes social training and personal development. “Some students are not as physically agile, while other students do not feel physically confident or good enough. I treat them with a nurturing attitude and allow them to choose to participate freely. I usually arrange for students from the school dance team to stand in the front, while those who are not confident enough can choose to stand at the back. Gradually they will begin to see and appreciate the beauty of the body. Even those who had first resisted dance are willing to take part in the waltz in their final year.” For his classes, Yeung usually chooses Hungarian dance and Slovak dance as subjects. There is a lot of traditional partnering work in these two styles of folk dance, and physical contact with the opposite sex is inevitable. He laughs, saying most boys who take part in the folk dance society are there to meet girls. The love for dancing usually comes later.
2005年，楊君儒在Koprivshtitsa 保加利亞五年一度全國民俗藝術節上與當地舞者合照。 In 2005, Frederick Yeung participated in National Festival of Bulgarian Folklore Art in Koprivshtitsa. 圖片由受訪者提供 Photo provided by interviewee
土風舞的文化承傳 Cultural Inheritance of Folk Dance
九十年代，共產鐵幕倒下，東歐國家逐漸對外開放，開始有東歐的土風舞老師到訪外國授課。1995年，楊的舞團為了準備在高山劇場舉行的全港公開土風舞比賽，請來了一位歐洲老師編舞，但作品的水準未如理想，激發他於靠著英國朋友和傳真查來的資料孤身去羅馬尼亞學習匈牙利悉介科（Szekelyfold）地域舞蹈。直至現在，楊幾乎每年都會與學生到訪歐洲不同地方學習民族舞，其中一次他帶學生去東歐考察時卻巧妙地因為「香港人」身份而發生了小插曲：「當年1997年香港回歸，我和學生從捷克乘火車去羅馬尼亞，途經斯洛伐克。豈料火車停站在斯洛伐克檢查護照，入境人員驚訝我們帶著的英國BNO而非中國護照，還懷疑我們是逃避中國共產主義的難民，險些將我們遣返回捷克。」
In the 1990s, after the Iron Curtain fell, Eastern European countries gradually opened their doors to the outside world. Some Eastern European folk dance teachers began to travel to the Far East for visits and to teach. In 1995, in preparation for the Open Folk Dance Competition at Ko Shan Theatre, Yeung invited a dance teacher from Europe to choreograph a dance piece. However, the level of the work was not as good as he had expected. This inspired him to go to Romania to study the regional dances of the Hungarian section (Szekelyfold) alone, with his only guide information faxed to him by a British friend. To this day, almost every year, Yeung travels with his students to study ethnic dances in different parts of Europe. Because of his identity as a Hong Kong citizen, Yeung had an interesting experience in 1997 when he took his students to visit Eastern Europe. "It was 1997, the year Hong Kong was handed over to China. I was with my students travelling from the Czech Republic by train to Romania via Slovakia. As the train stopped in Slovakia at border control for passport check, the immigration officer at customs was quite surprised to see us with British National Overseas Passports, and not Chinese ones. He then suspected that we were refugees fleeing from the Chinese communist party and nearly had us repatriated back to the Czech Republic.”
土風舞是民族的文化載體，楊是香港的土風舞教師和舞者，學過美國的RCA課程、英國皇家舞蹈教師協會的課程，對於舞蹈在不同文化場景的角色，他解說：「土風舞起源是慶祝和祭禮的活動。東歐的村落也有中國的『祠堂』類似的聚腳點，村長發言的講台就可以變成表演舞蹈的舞台。隨時代轉變，土風舞成為了展示民族實力平台，土風舞從起初圍住樹、水井的舞蹈逐漸搬上舞台，成立國家舞蹈團，趨向專業化。 」楊的舞蹈生涯與不同文化和傳統根源交織，到歐洲四處學習不同民族的舞蹈，把世界各地的見聞加入香港的舞蹈教育課程裡。
Folk dance carries the cultural genetic code of a nation. As a Hong Kong folk dance teacher and dancer who has studied both the RCA course from the United States and the teacher’s course at ISTD from United Kingdom, he has the following views on folk dance’s role in different cultural arenas, "Folk dances originate from celebrations and rituals. Villages in Eastern Europe also have what is equivalent to Chinese ancestral halls for gatherings. The podium where the village head stands to speak to the villagers in public becomes a stage for performing dance. Through its transformation over time, folk dance has become a platform that reflects a nation’s strength. Folk dance began simply as a dance around the trees and wells of the village by the villagers. It gradually moved onto the stage, and finally with the formation of national folk dance troupes, it is becoming professional.” Yeung’s dance career is interwoven with different cultural and traditional roots. His travels to Europe to learn about dances of different nationalities allowed him to broaden the scope of the dance education curriculum in Hong Kong.
第52屆學校舞蹈節東方舞組別優勝者 Winner of the 52nd Schools Dance Festival- Oriental Dance 攝Photo: 勁彩影藝社 Powerful Colour Image. 圖片由學校舞蹈節提供 Photo provided by SDF
談到土風舞在香港的未來發展，楊慨歎土風舞在香港市場不大，除了中小學的學校舞蹈節以外，土風舞課程和表演相對其他舞種少。土風舞反而在日本更受歡迎：「第一次參加東歐土風舞舞蹈營時，除了我一個亞洲人外，另一位是日本舞者。我剛到步時他已經在那村落住了兩年學習土風舞。日本人對文化傳統的尊重令土風舞受歡迎，日本東京更有民族舞服裝博物館，將過百年的東歐的民族舞服裝收藏及展覽。」
Speaking of the future of folk dance and its further development in Hong Kong, Yeung lamented the lack of demand for folk dance in the local dance market. Apart from its use by primary and secondary schools for the Schools Dance Festival, folk dance courses and performances are less popular than other dance forms. However, this is not the case in Japan. "Once I took part in a folk dance camp in Eastern Europe. There were only two Asians there. I was one, the other was a Japanese dancer. When I arrived at the camp, he had already been in that village for two years studying folk dance. Japanese respect for cultural tradition has made folk dance popular in that country. It is not hard to spot this considering Japan has had a folk dance costume museum that has collected and displayed folk dance costumes of Eastern Europe for over a century.”
楊坦言土風舞不及爵士舞、街舞新潮，也不似芭蕾舞、現代舞般專業化，土風舞「老土」令某些學生起初會抗拒。 但他笑稱正因為「老土」令自己更堅持推動土風舞：「『老』代表傳統文化，『土』代表田園、靈性，如民歌般給人清新和放鬆的氣息。『老土』有何不好呢？」
Yeung admits that folk dance is not as fashionable as jazz dance and hip-hop, and as specialized as ballet and modern dance. Its old-fashioned image has made some students resist it at first sight. But he smiled and said just because it is old-fashioned has not stopped him from promoting it, "The Chinese translation for old-fashioned is Lao Tu. "Lao" stands for traditional culture, "tu" means soil, signifying the pastoral, the spiritual, a fresh atmosphere where people relax like listening to a folk song. What's wrong with being old-fashioned?"
*編按：2001年教育局推出的《綜合舞蹈教材套》協作研究及發展（「種籽」）計劃加入了爵士舞及街舞和體育舞蹈，相關教材套於2008年推出予中、小學舞蹈教學之用，而2004-2005年第41屆學校舞蹈節亦新增了相應比賽組別。
*Note: In 2001, the Education Bureau launched Dance Learning and Teaching Package Collaborative Research and Development ("Seed") Projects incorporating jazz, street dance and, dance sports into the existing curriculum. In 2008, the package was sent to primary and secondary schools as dance teaching materials. While jazz, street dance and, dance sports were also added as a new dance competition category for the 41st Schools Dance Festival in 2004-2005.
