Hong Kong musical on marine sustainability decries shark’s fin soup with dance, acrobatics, orchestral music and contortionism
- Shark Symphony is a multi-arts musical spreading the message about marine conservation, with sword dancing, throat singing, acrobatics and burlesque
- The musical, from the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, also features belly-dancing jellyfish, contortionists and a cyr wheel performance
Take a throat singer from Finland, add a Chinese sword dancer, mix in a couple of acrobats from Venezuela and spice it up with some burlesque-dancing lobsters and belly-dancing jellyfish and what do you have?
A vibrant musical with an important message about marine conservation, according to Leanne Nicholls, artistic director of the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong (CCOHK).
On April 20 and 21, at the Tsuen Wan Town Hall Auditorium, CCOHK serves up Shark Symphony, a musical combining dance, orchestral music, acrobatics and contortion performances while raising awareness about marine sustainability.
Co-directed by Nicholls and award-winning Norwegian actor and director/ choreographer Morten Ruda, a highlight, she says, is the “mesmerising sounds” of Finnish musician Antti Paalanen, known worldwide for blending folk accordion with dance beats and Siberian throat singing.
Shark Symphony tells the story of two businessmen who open an underwater restaurant in Hong Kong that dishes up responsibly caught seafood, only for operations to go south when shark fin soup is served at a wedding banquet.
Roughly 70 to 100 million sharks are killed in commercial fisheries every year, with their fins often ending up in soup served in mainland China and Hong Kong, mostly at wedding banquets.
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“Shark Symphony challenges us to think twice about the real predator of the sea: human or shark?” says Nicholls.
Special features include cyr wheel acrobat Zara Asa as a manta ray, Carmanie Ng’s Belly Dance Group as belly-dancing LED jellyfish, Chinese sword dancer Li Tuo-kun playing a swordfish and contortion artists Jodie Yung and Yonex Ho as nudibranchs.
Hong Kong breakdancing star Bboy Think gives a head-spinning performance as a great white shark.
“We also have some shuffle-dancing squid and a Hong Kong-based family of acrobats from Venezuela will be dressed as deep-sea ‘yeti lobsters’ – yes, they exist,” says Nicholls of the crustacean Kiwa hirsuta, dubbed the “yeti lobster” because of its furry white claws. It was discovered in the South Pacific Ocean in 2005.
Two waterphones, a handcrafted instrument that produces sounds similar to the calls of humpback whales – commissioned with Polish waterphone maker Slawek Janus – will be played by CCOHK musicians Rebecca Ng and Emily Cheng.
The Hong Kong Shark Foundation (HKSF) is honoured to be the charity partner, says its executive director Andrea Richey.
“This event serves as a powerful platform to address an urgent issue: the continued consumption of shark fin soup in local restaurants, which poses a significant global threat to endangered shark species,” says Richey, who will give a post-show talk.
“We have lost 70 per cent of the world’s shark population in the past 50 years and the continued consumption of shark products is clearly not sustainable.”
It is not the first time CCOHK has woven important messages into its shows. In 2022 it presented WILD (The Musical) about two animal poachers who discover a wild orchestra in the jungle and try to capture the talented members for a lucrative Broadway show.
Shark Symphony, April 20, 7.30pm; April 21, 3pm; Tsuen Wan Town Hall Auditorium, 72 Tai Ho Road, Tsuen Wan. Tickets are available from Urbtix.
