Alexander Chiu Tech, Food, and Everything In Between

Hong Kong Swing Festival and the aftermath

Wednesday January 13th:

So we continue after the blogging to relax and prepare for the first crazy night of the Hong Kong Swing Festival organized by HKSwings! .  Sammy and I went to Grappa's Cellar that night to enjoy our first night of social dancing.  Already several of the swing dancing instructors had flown in and were enjoying some food.  The night ended spectacularly with Peter Vawter playing some jazz violin near Jardine House (the building of 1000 assholes).

Thursday January 14th:

A pretty uneventful day which turned out to be the calm before the storm.  We had a late lunch to ease into the weekend.  Dim sum in the afternoon is a great afternoon tea replacement in Hong Kong and it's half price after 2pm in Central.  You just can't beat the awesome food at affordable prices.  We had beef tripe in a brown sauce, braised fried tofu, ha gau (shrimp crystal dumplings), char siu bau (steamed pork buns), fish ball soup, shanghainese style dumplings, spare ribs in garlic sauce, and sticky rice.  With this kind of variety, it's tough to beat the bang per buck here in Hong Kong.  Not only is the food natural and fresh, it's also prepared in multiple ways.

Friday January 15th:

It's the first official day of the Hong Kong Swing Festival and Sammy and I are excited!  The event starts at night so we fast forward to dinner.  We ended up eating a simple dinner at the IFC Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao.  It's a simple dinner of Si Zi Tou (Lion's Head shanghainese meatballs in a brown sauce with cabbage), Xiao Long Bao (Little Dragon Buns dumplings with pork and ginger filling with a delicious soup in them), and a scallion cake.  It's pretty simple food that is absolutely delicious.  After some down time we walk over to City Hall in Central to watch the Big Band Show.  There, we were treated to a 3 hour show which included the Basic Notes Jazz Big Band led by Joe Chang, the Stray Katz Big Band led by Mike Legge (he was very comical), the Saturday Night Jazz Orchestra led by Taka Hirohama (the most danceable band of the show), and Lando Bernal's Big Broad Band.  During the show, performances were done by Max Pitruzella (Montpelier), Annie Trudeau (Montreal), Peter Vawter (Japan), Jandi Kim(Korea), Brian Ang(Singapore), Sing Lim(Singapore), Gianni Aprea, and Grace Leung.  Overall, it was a great show although I wish that Hong Kong would have given us a nice public space like the IFC Mall atrium with some wooden dance floors and a bandstand to create quite a spectacle.

After the Big Band Show, about 150 dancers from all over the world gathered to go to the late night party at DanzStage studios in Tin Hau.  DanzStage studios is large, spacious, and equipped with a great sound system so the late night dance went off without a hitch.  During the late night dance, a Jack & Jill was held where Mindy Chen and I won a ticket to The Exchange in Korea.  I was a little reluctant to compete but it felt good to perform for the crowd.  Unfortunately, I can't make it to the Exchange in Seoul so I hope someone else can make use of my space T_T.  Below is the video of the Jack & Jill for the Friday late night.  The dance lasted until 2:30am where Sammy and I promptly made our exit and collapsed back at home.

Saturday January 16th:

I'm actually really relieved that we didn't have to attend classes in the morning since we were wiped out from last night.  It had been at least 2 years since Sammy and I went to a competition or exchange.  We ended up eating some suckling pig for lunch before we proceeded to the IFC Mall to walk my grandfather.  The piggy was so delicious and crispy.  The skin had a distinct crunch when you bit into it and the flesh was soft and well seasoned.  It's possibly the most magical animal to eat.  In Hong Kong, the layer of fat between the skin and the meat is also less than other places so you get only a thin layer of fat between the crisp skin and the succulent meat.  OK, enough about the piggy.  At about 5pm, we proceeded to the roof garden of the IFC Mall to find........ Nothing.  Nobody was there yet and it wasn't until nearly 30 minutes later that reinforcements arrived with sound system in hand.  The dance slowly grew as more people came to the rooftops.  By evening, there were a lot more dancers on the floor so things progressed quite well.  Once 7pm came rolling around, we were off to the Jumbo Restaurant Top Deck.

For those of you looking to come visit Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Swing Festival is a great way to see Hong Kong as well as dance.  The Jumbo Top Deck is in a word: Sublime.  We all sat down to a nice buffet which included sushi. After filling our bellies, open dancing was available both inside and outside.  The cool night air was refreshing and the night was memorable for all who attended.  Nearing the peak of the evening, we held one last Jack & Jill contest.  Bags over heads were involved and the Jedi swingout was invented O_o.  It made for a comical night as well as a relaxed one.  The final day of dancing was nearing as we left around 12:30am.

Sunday January 17th:

The day started late again for Sammy and me since we weren't taking the classes.  To those taking the classes, I do recommend learning from lots of different instructors since it helps to see different dancing styles as well as teaching styles.  Overall, the more variety you pour into dance instruction, the more flexible your social dancing will be.  Sammy and I were a little nervous about teaching to beginners at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre at Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon today since it was a public event.  We had heard that we had 2 sessions of 15 minutes to teach beginners and that we were going to have a chinese translator: Kylie Choy.  What do you teach in 15 minutes?  Our lofty goal: basic dancing within 15 minutes or less.  Shave off 6-7 minutes for translation and we essentially had 8-9 minutes for actual instruction.  Surely, this was going to end poorly ROFL.  I ran through basics with Sammy in the morning in about 8 minutes which was about as fast as I could possibly make it.  Hopefully, it would suffice and people would get on the dance floor to learn and be somewhat danceable in the 8 minutes of actual instruction.  Finally, it was time to get over there.  We left a good 45 minutes to get there via mini-bus, then subway.  The trains here are clean, efficient, large, and profitable (everything that NYC MTA is not ;p).  Once we arrived we were quickly whisked away to backstage to be briefed on the schedule.  When it came time to teach, we were fast and furious.  Kylie introduced us really quickly and we were able to instruct some noobs quickly so that they were danceable within minutes.  My cantonese escapes me when I'm in public so it was a good thing I didn't have to translate myself.  Performances were once again done to live music and we all joined in on a Shim Sham on stage.  Special thanks go to the Hong Kong Big Band Jazz Federation, the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, the Hong Kong Leisure and Cultural Services Department, The Fringe Club, HKSwings, all the performers, all the bands, and Taka Hirohama for making Swing Party possible.  Later that night, the farewell dance took place at Grappa's Cellar.  Sammy and I were so tired by 10pm, we went back to sleep.  Meanwhile, the below group picture was taken T_T.  We'll have to get a big group photo of just HKSwings sometime.