[中][ENG] 細說《舞蹈手札》的緣起與早期發展 dance journal/hk: From the Top
不經不覺，《舞蹈手札》已經在香港扎根二十年。從最初僅以黑白影印的方式製作，到今天全彩色印製，還設網上版和延伸錄像，都在歷經不少改變。到底這本今天已成本地舞蹈界廣泛認同的專門刊物，是如何走過這一段廿載長路，當中又有幾多鮮為人知的背後故事呢？這一切就不得不由上世紀九十年代的舞蹈生態說起。
While the past 20 years has slipped by, dance journal/hk has become firmly rooted in Hong Kong. From its beginnings as an entirely black-and-white photocopied edition, to today as a full-color printed periodical with an online version and follow-up videos, the journal has undergone many changes. How has this specialized publication, which has gained industry-wide recognition locally, made it through the past two decades? What are its seldom heard stories? Answers to these questions begin with a look at the dance ecology of the 1990s.
香港演藝學院舞蹈學院於1988年迎來她首屆的畢業生，而香港藝術發展局就在1995年成為法定機構，取代於1980年代初成立的香港演藝發展局，為香港專責策劃、推廣及支持藝術發展的法定機構，推出更多資助的機會，直接刺激1990年代本地舞蹈活動的高速發展。其時，不少由演藝學院早期畢業生創立的舞團相繼出現，而且1997年香港回歸前後的社會氛圍，也催生了更多有關身分的思考，啟發更多創作。然而，當年於主要報章上的舞蹈評論，多數集中談的都是旗艦藝團的作品，又或者是海外舞團來港巡演之製作，對中小型舞團的作品欠缺關注。
The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) sent out its first dance graduates in 1988. To replace the Council for the Performing Arts, founded in the early 1980s, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) was established in 1995 as the statutory body to plan, promote, and support the development of the arts. More subsidies were available, directly stimulating the rapid development of local dance activities in the 1990s. At that time, many early graduates from the HKAPA organized dance companies one after another; along with the social ambience regarding the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, many thoughts on our identity and creations were sparked. However, most dance criticism in the mainstream press focused only on the productions of flagship art companies or performance tours of overseas dance companies to Hong Kong, neglecting the productions of small and medium size dance companies.
《舞》的創刊號及第二冊以黑白影印，由第三冊開始有單色封面。 The journal begins as an entirely black-and-white photocopied edition, starting from its third issue, its cover became in 1+1 color.
城市當代舞蹈團（CCDC）的創辦人曹誠淵（Willy），在1990年代就曾經自資出版過一份藝文雜誌《越界》，希望透過辦一份嚴肅認真的刊物，鼓勵更多有關藝術文化的報導，並帶出更多演後之思辯。可是當時的資助機構演藝發展局並不重視，而且提出不同要求，例如不能過於集中談某種風格或演出類型，而是要求不同藝術形式範疇都會作平衡報導，因此制肘甚多。有見及此，同時也為香港舞蹈聯盟（舞盟）創會成員之一的Willy，就提出創立一本以舞蹈為核心的全新刊物《舞蹈手札》。
Willy Tsao, founder of City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC), self-financed and published a cultural and art magazine, Crossover Magazine, in the 1990s. Through this serious publication, he hoped to encourage more reports on arts and culture, as well as contemplation and discussion after each production. Nonetheless, the subvented organization at that time, which was the Council for the Performing Arts, did not attach great importance to his work, and made various requests impeding its development. For example, instead of attention to certain types of styles or performances, the Council demanded balanced reporting on different genres of the arts. In light of these conditions, Tsao, as one of the founding members of the Hong Kong Dance Alliance (HKDA), suggested creating a brand-new dance-oriented publication, dance journal/hk.
Willy當年的想法是希望製作一份專業的刊物，讀者群不必很多，主要是派發予業界朋友，著重嚴肅及認真的討論與評論。而《舞蹈手札》的另一位草創功臣白朗唐（Tom Brown）也指出，世界各地每個舞蹈發展蓬勃的大城市都總會有一本舞蹈的專屬刊物，因此當時希望香港至少也能夠有一本舞蹈雜誌的出現，創造多一個空間給舞蹈評論刊登，也容讓年輕的獨立編舞作品獲得一定的評論機會，幫助創作人成長之餘，亦能培養更多的舞蹈觀眾。
Tsao intended the publication to be professional. A large readership was not sought, as it was meant for industry practitioners with an emphasis on serious discussion and commentary. According to Tom Brown, another originator of dance journal/hk, in every major metropolis around the world where dance thrives, there is a publication devoted exclusively to dance. Therefore, he hoped for such a publication in Hong Kong to provide more room for commentary about dance and space to review the works of young independent choreographers, furthering the growth of creators and nurturing dance audiences.
時任編輯Willy在199年創刊號封面上的編者話提及「手作過程」，城市當代舞蹈團、香港演藝學院、香港芭蕾舞團、香港舞蹈團都參與出版過程。 In the editor’s note of the journal’s initial issue in 1999, its first editor, Willy Tsao wrote about the “domestic process” in producing the journal. City Contemporary Dance Company, Hong Kong Academy of the Performing Arts, Hong Kong Ballet, Hong Kong Dance Company also participated in the publication.
由創刊號開始，《舞》已為讀者提供舞蹈界消息和節目資訊，一直至今。 Since its first issue, the journal has been providing dance news and events information to its readers and continues until today.
至於刊物的中英文名稱《舞蹈手札》與dance journal/hk的由來，其實也有過不同的考慮。Willy憶述當年構思名稱時，主要是希望可以突出舞蹈主題，而又不會太過學術，曾考慮過以《非常舞蹈》為中文刊名，不過經討論後，還是選擇了平實一點的《舞蹈手札》，感覺簡單低調得多。至於英文名字，Tom就認為journal（日誌）一詞較magazine（雜誌）嚴肅，雖然journal也有期刊的意思，但名字所形容的其實是不太學術的日誌；而全部以小階及作「/hk」的呈現，也多少源於當時有紐約設計師，用小寫及斜號的形式作品牌名字，故啟發到他們有此想法，決定順應潮流。
There were a lot of considerations regarding the Chinese and English names of the journal. Tsao recalls that when he tried to name the journal, his main concern was to make the theme of dance stand out in a non-academic way. After discussion, in the end, a simple and low-profile name was preferred《舞蹈手札》to《非常舞蹈》as the Chinese title. As for the English version, Brown reckoned that the word journal had a bit more weight than magazine. Although journal shares the meaning of periodical, what it implies is in fact a less scholarly diary; moreover, it was decided to have the title all in lower case letters with a tag of “/hk”. This decision was partially inspired by fashion designers of that time, who similarly tagged the initials of their cities to their brand names.
第二年開始參與設計及排版，後來也有參與編務工作的施德安（Cecil）就提到，當時的香港演藝界雖然已經開始對評論有關注，但卻未見有專門的評論雜誌出現，更沒有全職的評論人。即使在1998年曾經有一個資金，讓《打開》得以面世，不過這本評論雜誌在資助終止後也難逃結束的命運。
Starting from the second year of publication, Cecil Sze Tak-on, was engaged in the design and layout process and later also assisted in editing and writing for the journal. He talked about the lack of specialized reviewers and full-time critics in spite of attention to commentaries in the performing arts industry at that time. Although funding allowed the periodical Xpressions to launch in 1998, its reviews couldn’t save it from termination as that funding came to an end.
Tom指當時在大眾媒體上刊登的評論文章，往往因為篇幅所限，長度只有數百字，單是說明製作人員與內容簡介，就已經佔去大部分篇幅，沒剩下多少空間可能去詳細評論製作。而《舞蹈手札》的出現，就能夠容許更長、更深入的文章可以被發表， 進而成為那個時代的舞蹈發展紀錄。
Brown pointed out that during that period, articles published in the mass media were only a few hundred words in length due to limitations of space. Listing information about production staff and a brief summary alone took most of that space, leaving not much room for a detailed critique of the production. dance journal/hk has made the publication of longer and more in-depth articles possible and has become a contemporaneous record of dance development.
Willy回憶《舞蹈手札》開始時十分簡單，不賣包裝，只有幾張紙，甚至沒定下每期到底要印多少頁。那時候他與Tom會各自寫一至兩篇專題或評論文章，同時也有嘗試找一些有寫開文章的評論人來供稿。不過由於資源有限，能夠提供的稿費不多，難以要求評論人專門替《舞蹈手札》供稿，故內容多是複印報紙上已經刊出過的評論。Willy指那些年的《南華早報》、《大公報》、《晶報》與《星島日報》都會有藝評文章刊登，他們往往會待作者的文章首刊後，然後才以剪報服務形式轉載到《舞蹈手札》，一方面省下一些稿費支出，另一方面也方便會員藝術家與藝團可以集中在一本刊物上，讀到作品的不同評論，讓有心的朋友不用東找西尋。
Thinking back to the commencement of the journal, Tsao remembers a plain edition with only a few copies and even an undetermined number of pages. He and Brown would write one to two features or reviews and asked active commentators for articles. Owning to limited resources, they couldn’t pay much in remuneration to the writers. It was hard to request a contribution of articles to the journal, and most of the content consisted of material reprinted from newspapers. Tsao says that there were art reviews in South China Morning Post, Ta Kung Pao, Ching Pao, and Sing Tao Daily, and they would reprint the published articles in dance journal/hk, as a form of news clipping service for HKDA’s members. On one hand, they could save on costs; on the other hand, it was more convenient for artists, art companies, and readers to look for different reviews of productions within just one publication.
Tom亦補充說到《舞蹈手札》的初心是要把每月演出的評論都包羅，既有專題文章，也會有最新消息刊載，而且每隔一期也有深度文章。可是當時的確沒有很多人可以寫，所以早期比較多的內容是來自剪報複印。Cecil說他在早期也有幫手做過剪報，但期後基於版權法的考慮，令轉載文章的行政工作增加，故之後就沒有再作這樣的處理。
Brown adds that the initial aim of the journal was to include reviews on all performances every month. It would be ideal to have feature articles and the latest news in each issue, as well as in-depth articles in every other edition. However, there were not many writers, so in the early days most of the content consisted of newspaper clippings. Sze says that he helped with the clippings at first as well but discontinued with it when the administrative work from securing the rights of reprinting articles increased as a result of the amendment of the copyright ordinance later.
回說《舞蹈手札》在開始之初，乃由Willy義務擔任總編輯，親身參與策劃，並且亦會撰寫文章。據當時在舞盟幫忙處理排版與編務工作的黃翠玲（Scarlet）講，最開頭的時候，Willy是想有一本舞蹈雜誌，可以全面紀錄香港的舞蹈演出。不過在沒有資源底下，很多事情都只能自己去做，Scarlet除了會幫忙打字、排版與對稿外，頭兩期更加是親自把稿子拿到香港芭蕾舞團去影印，再將印好了的A3大小成品，拿回演藝學院一手一腳摺成500份，然後交到香港舞蹈團去郵寄分發，完全是家庭式的手作過程。
At the beginning of dance journal/hk, Tsao was the voluntary editor-in-chief who made plans and wrote articles. According to Scarlet Wong, who participated in the layout and editorial process at the HKDA, Tsao originally wanted to have a dance-themed publication that could comprehensively record dance performances in Hong Kong. With limited resources, they had to do many things by themselves. In addition to typing, layout, and proofreading, for the first two issues Wong photocopied the manuscripts at Hong Kong Ballet herself, brought the A3-sized pages back to the HKAPA, folded them into 500 copies, and gave them to the Hong Kong Dance Company to mail and distribute – a prime example of domestic processing.
由黃翠玲排版的第二冊Layout by Scarlet Wong on the second issue of the journal.
(左left) 鍾晶《「客途秋恨」之扇的感染力》(1999) (右right) 余仁華《打樂十八層之身體福音》(1999)
後來舞盟獲藝術發展局的多項計劃資助，從中撥出一筆款項去支持《舞蹈手札》的出版，因此可以更專業地去聘請專人負責封面設計與打字，以及輸出付印，不過內頁排版和後期還是由Scarlet自己一手包辦。Scarlet坦言那時候甚麼也不懂，最初僅用Word文書系統去做排版，後來才自學編輯軟件Pagemaker去處理，圖片運用也沒有太多美學考慮，純粹是希望出一分力去支持這一本刊物的運作。
With the subsidies for numerous projects from the HKADC, HKDA was later able to apportion a sum to support the publication of dance journal/hk by hiring professionals to design the cover, type the manuscripts, and send the journal to printshop. Yet, Wong still took over the design and layout of the inside pages, as well as the later stage of publication on her own. She admits a scant knowledge in publishing, frankly saying that she simply used Word to design the layout initially; only after some time did she learn an editing software, Pagemaker, on her own, so as to address the her lack of knowledge. A pure desire to contribute to the journal sometimes overrode aesthetic consideration.
隨著Willy忙於到內地講學及推動現代舞的發展，難免經常要離港，較難緊貼本地演出及舞蹈發展，故在第一期第八冊起，就加入了當時於香港演藝學院工作的Tom與朱絜，組成編輯部，一同處理編務工作。Cecil回憶《舞蹈手札》的首年，其實大家都十分辛苦，因為常常湊不夠稿件，故有時候要兩個月才出版一次，而非原來的每月一期。而且舞盟的資金也不多，加上大家工作繁忙，難以找到專人去處理，而在最困難的時候，他剛好有空，所以就開始參與排版跟編務工作。
As Tsao had been busy giving lectures and advancing the development of modern dance in China, it became harder for him to keep up with local performances and dance development due to his frequent departures. Therefore, Brown, who was working for the HKAPA at that time, together with Chu Kit, formed an editorial board with Tsao to cope with the editing of the journal. Sze remembers the difficult days for every team member in the first year of publication. Because of an insufficient number of articles, sometimes the journal was issued every two months instead of the intended monthly edition. Moreover, HKDA had very limited financial assistance, and with everyone’s demanding schedules sometimes it seemed there was no one person in charge of the journal. During the most difficult times, Sze happened to be available, and consequently started to follow the layout and editing work.
Cecil還記得多項計劃資助用完後，舞盟有為《舞蹈手札》再次申請資助，但就遭削減一半資助，故此那時候只好轉而一年只出版六期，《舞蹈手札》也從此變成了每兩個月出版一期的雙月刊。不說不知，原來《舞蹈手札》也曾經歷過一段困難時期，一度停刊。事緣當年因為一些行政失誤，舞盟未能及時完成藝發局的資助報告而被列入黑名單，導致資助停止發放，結果下半年未有資金可用，所以在2002年的《舞蹈手札》第四期，只是出版了四冊（第四冊更要自資出版）。直到2003年初才重獲資助，得以復刊，直到今天。
Sze also recollects that when funds for Multi-Projects Grant were used up, HKDA made another application in order to sustain dance journal/hk; however, the amount it received was reduced by half. As a result, there were only six issues a year, turning the journal into a bimonthly publication. There was a time, at one point in the journal’s history that because of an administrative error in completing the audited report for the HKADC on time, it suspended publication because funding was withheld. That was why there were only four editions of the journal in 2002 (with the fourth edition published on a self-financed basis). The journal resumed publication in early 2003 and continues to be published to this day.
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《舞蹈手札》自1999年的所有出版現已上線
All publication of dance journal/hk since 1999 can now be accessed on www.dancejournalhk.com/past-issues
特別嗚謝以下贊助人支持《舞蹈手札》二十週年紀念專題
Special thanks to the following donors in supporting 20th Anniversary Feature for dance journal/hk 陳寶珠 Pearl Chan 劉燕玲 Stella Lau 龍世儀 Shirley Loong
羅佳娜 Natasha Rogai 施德安 Cecil Sze 譚兆民 Paul Tam 衛承天 Septime Webre 黃建宏 Kevin Wong 吳報釧 Sylvia Wu
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