曹寶蓮  （1966﹣2013）
 
寶月明晰舞謾世間情容
蓮步千姿蹈道天地無跡
 
香港土生土長舞蹈家。畢業於香港演藝學院。1988年獲「亞洲文化協會英美獎學金」赴美國北卡羅莱納州参加「美國舞蹈節」及「麻省舞蹈節」，並同時到紐約體驗生活。1989年加入香港舞蹈團，於《周璇》、《寶蓮燈》、《画皮》、《春香傳》、《胭脂扣》、《玉卿嫂》、《誘僧》及《菊豆》等舞蹈演出中担當重要角色。1995年獲「賽馬會獎學金」遠赴紐約艾云艾利舞蹈中心深造一年，回港後，1997年獲「香港藝術家年獎 ─ 舞蹈家」。

photo by moon yip

曹氏離開香港舞蹈團後，曾與不同團體合作演出及编排舞蹈，並於2005年再度獲得「春天創意舞台獎助金」。2006年到美國緬恩州参加「Bates Festival」，並到芝加哥及紐約作文化交流，同時在紐約的Galapagos Arts Space及Spiegeltent演出由John Moran編導的《ZENITH 5》。2007年曹氏被邀請到英國倫敦的「International Workshop Festival」教授中國舞。


photo by yuen hon wai
曹氏亦曾爲多項作品编舞，如香港兒童合唱團及美國羅省高寶兒童合唱團之《僑》、春天舞台劇制作有限公司制作之《聊齋新志》、TNT Production Ltd. 之《但願人長久…鄧麗君》音樂劇、電影《小奇迹》、玄笛協會有限公司制作之《第一頁夢歌》音樂劇、2005年元宵彩燈會的《中國民族舞蹈表演》、《劍雪浮生》舞台劇、九命工作《夢游仙境》、2007年春天戲曲發展之《珍珠衫》、2008年香港話劇團有限公司之體驗戲劇《多元感受》、香港教育学院之《體育學系》及一零年聯合國教科文組織東亞兒童藝術節等。曹氏亦曾担任《2006廣東省佛教音樂晚會》之舞台編導。

photo by hoyingfung

此外，曹氏的創作作小品包括《蛇人》、《感官之女》、《九男女、红》、《Long Black》及《Blooming》等。曹氏亦曾長期任编舞、教授及自由舞者。多年來先後與動藝舞蹈團、瘋祭舞台、錢秀蓮舞蹈團、香港舞蹈團等合作演出。她亦曾長期與本地創作人何應豐先後多番合作，作品計有《大路西遊》、《蕪湖街上好風光》、《七重天》、《曝／光》、《大路西遊2之阿公審三藏》及曹氏於2010年的獨舞作品《觀蓮》。
 
曹氏最後的一個演出是二零一二年十一月新視野藝術節何必館製作《大鬧天宮》。
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Popo Tso  1965-2013
 
Tso graduated from the School of Chinese Dance of the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. In 1988, she was awarded a scholarship by the Asian Cultural Council and joined the American Dance Festival and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in the North Carolina, USA. She also gained valuable daily life experience from a residency in New York. In 1989, she joined the Hong Kong Dance Company (HKDC) and undertook major roles in works such as Zhou Xuan, The Magic Lotus Lantern, Hua-Pi-Ghost Under a Beauty’s Skin, The Story of Chunhyang, Rough, Yue Fei, The Temptation of a Monk and Ju Dou. In 1995, she received another scholarship from The Hong Kong Jockey Club to study in the Alvin Ailey American Dance Centre in New York. Upon her return to Hong Kong, in 1997, she was awarded the “Artist of the Year — Dance” by the Hong Kong Artists’ Guild.
 
After leaving the HKDC, she co-operated and choreographed with a variety of companies. In 2005, she received her second-time 2005 Fellowship Award from Spring-Time Stage Productions. In 2006, apart from gaining experiences in Chicago and New York, she also joined the Bates Festival in Maine, USA, and performed John Moran’s Zenith 5 in New York’s Galapagos Arts Space and Spiegeltent. In 2007, Tso was invited by the International Workshop Festival to teach the Chinese dance to both professional and local communities in UK. Tso has choreographed lots of works, including HK Children’s Choir & Colbum Children’s Choir of L.A.’s Bridge, Spring-Time Stage Productions’s The Dark Tales, TNT Productions’s Forever Teresa Tang, the film A Small Miracle, Siddhi String Society Ltd.’s The First Leaf of Dream Song, 2005 Chinese Folk Dance, Spring-Time Stage Productions’s A Sentimental Journey 2005, Nine Lives’s Warm Blue Haze, Spring Time Chinese Opera’s Pearl Shirt in 2007, Hong Kong Repertory Theatre Limited’s 2008 Macau Education Project, Department of Creative Arts and Physical Education of The Hong Kong Institute of Education and the UNESCO Children’s Performing Arts Festival of East Asia 2010 (Macau). Tso was also the artistic director of A Musical Ceremony for a Buddhist Celebration in 2006.
 
Apart from that, Tso’s creative works include Snake Chamber, The Sensation of Woman, Nine-Red, Long Black and Blooming, etc. Tso had been working as  a freelance artist and collaborated with DanceArt, The Theatre Fanatico, Miranda Chin Dance Company, Hong Kong Dance Company, etc. Tso had extensive collaboration with local theatre director Hoyingfung, including “Heading West”, “Springtime in Wuhu Street”, “The Seventh Drawer”, “Exposed/Still Burning”, “Heading West 2: The Trial of Sanzhuang” and Tso’s 2012 solo performance “Lotus in Motion”.
 
Tso’s final stage performance was in 2012 New Vision Arts Festival’s “O, You Heavenly Creatures!”, a production produced by Ho Bit Goon.

photo by hoyingfung