Leaders at Faust: An Interview with Desiree Ho

"The older I grow the more I realise not everyone gets that privilege and I am extremely lucky to get to do something I love."

During this period, we would like to share with you a series of interviews from our leaders, other creative members in our community and behind the scene glimpses of our youth theatre.

In this interview, we met with Desiree Ho, one of our Group Leaders at Faust. Desiree has 18 years of experience in the performing arts field and specialises in directing and managing performing arts projects.

Prior to joining Faust, Desiree was an active performer, choreographer and director, working with youth organisations and adults. She trained with the City Contemporary Dance Company's Wudaoqingnian scholarship programme, at Dancecity in the UK and Hotstepper in Denmark. She is an awardee of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council's Cultural Bursary, and previously worked at the Sage Gateshead in the UK, a world-class performing arts venue. 

Desiree's film "Plastic Soup" was commissioned by the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation and premiered at the Hong Kong Eco Film Festival in 2018. Her other short film "Pocketful of Poetry" was featured in the Tees Dance Film Festival in the UK, the UDance Festival at Theatre Royal and the Athens Video Dance Project in Greece.

What current creative projects are you working on now that you would like to share?

I am collaborating with Becky Baker, another Faust Group Leader, on a children’s story book. I have also been working on opening my own classes for yoga and dance! I hope my website, classes and studio space will be ready to go once this Coronavirus saga dies down… in fact, I’ll probably launch anyway!

I am also gradually moving my creative work online, such as filming videos and uploading past work on youtube, rather than my usual live performance projects.

I rehearse choir songs when I’m free. Instead of regular rehearsals we now submit audio recordings of our singing to our choir leaders, who then give us individual feedback on the phone. Given the recent instability, we have to get creative in order to adapt!

What impact did drama have on you growing up on your confidence?

Drama was my absolute “go-to” thing growing up, whether it was being in shows, taking part-time workshops, auditioning, taking dance class after school or watching performances on Youtube until the wee hours.

There were times when I faced issues - I sometimes got into trouble as performing required me to skip school, and sometimes people simply disagreed with who I was or what I was doing, especially in the traditional school or work setting, where I experienced quite a bit of bullying. I always felt though that my performing friends, team mates and directors understood me, accepted me and helped me. They were always there to support me and did not judge me.

Growing up with drama further helped me gain skills in acting, dancing, singing, directing and choreographing, which allowed me to ease confidently into the performing arts workforce.

I feel encouraged to know that I am i) accepted in this space and ii) am able to turn my passion into my work, and sustain myself. The older I grow the more I realise not everyone gets that privilege and I am extremely lucky to get to do something I love.

Who are your heroes and inspirations?

In the acting world, I am inspired by Awkwafina, the actor in The Farewell! She has this “let’s get on with it” attitude, which I can definitely use more of now in Hong Kong! I like that she followed her passion whilst being herself and is shining in life! I'd love to meet her!

I also LOVE Kate Jablonski, she’s an amazing choreographer who works mainly with youth-- her choreography is intricate, precise, wacky, and always followed by an out-of-the-box concept and performed by extremely talented youth performers! I can watch her stuff for hours non-stop.

Lea Salonga, who is of course been a long time inspiration for me as the famous voice of Disney’s Jasmine and Mulan. She also made it on Broadway and the West End with Miss Saigon and Les Mis!

Outside of acting, I’m especially grateful to have met a few ‘mentors’ during my career, those who just offered a helping hand or an open ear, or even just checking up on me when things were going badly…I won’t name names as I think they’ll know who they are!

But above all, my parents are my ultimate hero in the literal sense-- they gave me safety and shelter when work was constantly cancelled or when life was going down hill. I had to move back home after the protests broke out in Hong Kong as my neighbourhood was completely trashed… so I feel very blessed to be their daughter.

What’s your favourite drama game?

In terms of teaching, I love “1, 2, 3 Sunshine”. It is very effective in helping beginners and creative people explore their imagination and movement vocabulary, whilst having fun. There is also a highly strategic element to it that helps students learn about team work.

What’s your favourite Faust moment?

With teaching, I once had to step up to perform last minute as the main character during my students’ final performance because the student actor was absent last-minute! I only directed the show so it was the first time I had actually acted in it. It was quite nerve-wrecking for everyone as we only found out thirty minutes before the audience would arrive. We had to think quick on our feet, then one student just said, “Miss Desiree, why don’t you perform!” Fortunately, I knew the story very well and my fellow students were great at improvisation, and we received excellent feedback from the audience.

I also had a blast rehearsing for the two touring shows “Wong’s Shop of Curiosities” and “the Ugly Duckling”. We were already ready to go! Unfortunately the show dates were postponed right before our first performance due to the virus!

If you could perform any character from a children’s story / play for teenagers, what would it be and why?

I’d play Elsa from Frozen because even though she is rebellious and stubborn as hell, everyone still loves her. Also because she can blast ice powers, build real estate by singing and ride on water horses for global transport. Did I mention she ALSO has a hilarious snow man as a best friend… this all sounds like a good life to me!

A short personal message for your students here

I MISS YOU GUYS!!! I hope the coronavirus situation dies down soon so that we can soon get back together and create something magical again! I think about the times we spend in the rehearsal room a lot. In the mean time, I hope you are staying creative! We will get through this together!