"-ist" is a very serious title, but most people cannot bear it. It is worn by and usually held by those with an exclusive privilege, people who excel in a skill or specific area of knowledge. 

“A choreographer is a professional and this identity cannot be used casually. We can play the piano but would not call ourselves pianists because to become a pianist one needs to go through a long period of training and further study. The same is true for me as a choreographer.”— Miss Z*

I have been a street dancer for eighteen years and I don’t think of myself as an OG. I’m a senior who maintains good behaviour and a positive mindset because when the next generation is listening to my advice as a teacher I help them with their growth and dance journey. Titles contain responsibility. I am starting to work as an “artist” but in a different arena, the theatre. Society teaches us to be more humble, to be kind to everyone and I wish to have an older generation to look up to, but this is not always possible as there are so few good role models from the current OGs. 

The identities of a dance artist and a dance OG are respected positions, people look up to and want to learn from them…normally. As a human being, respecting others is the beginning of winning their respect. Referring to “Our Aging Elders: The Vanishing of Our Living Libraries & The Erasure of Cultural & Intellectual Hip Hop/Street Dance Codes” by Natasha "Tash" Jean-Bart, she talks about how we need to learn from and interview more people from the older generations (the OGs), or else when they pass away we will no longer have access to their truth and we’ll be unable to pass it onto future generations. OGs play an important role when sharing their knowledge, but we play an equally important role in deciding what to archive.

I don’t know when it started, but I’ve become afraid of having the term “artist” used in my name and I’ve replaced it with “art worker”. I don’t know if the term “artist” has started to become rotten, or if the threshold is too high as many “artists” are created by society. Most of my friends introduce themselves as “art workers” even though they are still engaged in artistic creation. If it’s just personal preference, then calling ourselves "artists" would make us seem too arrogant, too presumptuous or too self-satisfied. We would rather be more modest. Calling myself an "art worker" is different, the title feels humble and down-to-earth and the term is comprehensive. It means doing work that is connected to art. 

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In March 2025, the Grammy winning Lady Gaga said she wanted to be remembered as a 'real artist' in an interview on YouTube with Zane Lowe for Apple Music:
 

"Something I want my fans to know now, which is why I said I love being Lady Gaga, is I actually returned back to my artistry recently in a huge way of making this album. I put so much of myself as a musician, as a producer, as a songwriter into everything. And that is who Lady Gaga is to me. Maybe to someone else it might be the meat dress or something that I did that they remember as me. But for me, I always want to be remembered for being a real artist and someone that cares so much about a life of art.”

Listening to the interview with Lady Gaga, a recognised legendary who is still working hard to continue to be a good musician, I can feel from her attitude and art works that even though she is a legend, she still aims to go to the next level. She has my respect. 

In the 80s and 90s, this type of identity seemed unattainable. Superstars were out of reach. However, with the development of the Internet, anyone can now be a temporary superstar via TikTok or Instagram. Having the name of “artist” seems to make it easier to go viral in the music or dance industries. There are more and more pretty KOLs who start to sing and become ‘female artists’ in the music industry in Hong Kong, often gathering over 350K followers on social media. Then there’s the many TikTok dance influencers, one of which led to the documentary Netflix series Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult which demonstrates some of the extreme consequences of following someone (in this case by Robert Israel Shinn) without question. The boundary between artist and influencer begins to blur.

For the past decade of my dance journey - which contains many ups and downs - I’ve been trying hard to keep improving my skills and experience of battling. I’ve wanted to give up many times when I couldn't see my future. In 2017 when I didn't win any trophies or have positive results from my 7 years of battling I started to think, should I continue in the dance community?
 

When is it acceptable to start calling yourself an artist? Google says when:

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• You gain considerable formal education related to art

• You started getting paid for your artwork

• Your artwork gets long-awaited public recognition

If it’s a question of threshold, I want to know, what is the threshold to become an artist? Do you need to be a "full-time worker" and/or have works that can "sell" to be called an artist? 

When I set my own threshold as a choreograph-ist, dance-ist or OG-ist, these are the guidelines I have for myself:
 

• Choreograph-ist - A choreographer with a good quality and quantity of art pieces presented in a professional theatre.

• Dance-ist - A dancer with good battling, competition awards or results from well known events.

• OG-ist - A person from the older generation with a number of years of experience who promotes the styles and is still active in the scene.

• All of the above -ists must also contain a humble heart and visions for the future.

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I have met some dance artists who have a low EQ (emotional quotient). Should I respect them? Should they be called an artist? A low EQ might mean a bad temper or displaying violent behaviour towards the people they work with. This is one of the controversial questions that has sparked many fiery debates in Hong Kong circles.
 

I have had a couple of bad experiences as a creative performer working with “artists”. I witnessed a choreographer wanting to hit my friend during a rehearsal because she didn’t understand what he was saying at a particular moment and she stopped his hand before he hit her. One time he threw a water bottle at her and I heard from other dancers who have worked with him that it’s not the first time that he’s like that. In a past rehearsal another choreographer said (using bad language) that we danced worse than kids and should be replaced. 

Some choreographers are known for their artistic creations and bad temperament. If their behavior is illegal and inappropriate should I still respect them? Artistic accomplishment is as important as personal values and morality, because your level of artistry reflects your personal qualities and critical reputation as an artist. How you work reflects your personality. Choreograph-ists, dance-ists, art-ists and OG-ists need to pay attention to their values, morality, character and professional ethics. 

In order to understand the opinions of people in the Hong Kong dance industry and learn about their expectations of a choreographer’s EQ and how it would affect their respect I created an online survey - How Do You View The Title of "Dance Artist/Choreography Artist"? - as part of my research. During the survey I asked questions about the reflections of interviewees after they knew about a choreographer’s bad behaviour, would it affect their respect and support towards the choreographer, alongside a free space for them to express other reactions to this topic. The most interesting analysis is that most people think that artistic accomplishment can be viewed separately from personal morality, but deep down it affects the respect and support of the choreographer who has a “bad” personality. 

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“I once participated in a very popular dance company, but I eventually quit the show because the dance director at the time publicly insulted the dancers. I felt that dancing was a delightful thing and for sure there was something to work hard on, but I didn't think that open insults were good for the atmosphere of the crew, so I resolutely quit.”  Miss Y*

My generation (Gen Y) has been through an education system that was taught by people from a past which was stricter and often had corporal punishment in it. These teachers didn't experience or come across many alternative methods for teaching or instructing and they often lack experience on how to use their EQ when communicating with others. 

According to a study published in 1994 by SAGE Publications Ltd in the journal “Imagination, Cognition, and Personality”, individuals with higher EQ are more likely to be creative than those with lower EQ. Artists with a high EQ are good at understanding and managing their own emotions and the emotions of others. They use their awareness to create impactful art that often inspires an emotional response in their audience. This also affects the teacher-student relationship. A choreographer with a high EQ may be a good artist, but a choreographer with a low EQ will not be a good leader or teacher.

“There was a teacher who was a very famous Hip-hop instructor. An obese friend was laughed at by this teacher during training, they kept verbally attacking her figure because of her movements and kept inciting other students to insult her until she gave up dancing.” Miss P*

All parties involved and those who witness these types of behaviours are left feeling uncomfortable, and it will often affect their psychological state. Corporal punishment teaching and verbal violence are no longer and should never have ever been acceptable. Nearly 80% of survey respondents* had the same opinion, if we know the choreographer has a bad personality and a low EQ, that reduces our willingness to support their work. If a choreographer has a bad personality, they won’t earn our respect or support.

EGO—Echoes

“Regardless of whether you’re a choreographer or not, you cannot verbally attack others or their families.” Miss A*

“Being called a Choreograph-ist affirms your identity as a creative artist with authorship over the work—not just someone who performs it, but someone who imagines, designs, and directs the experience for audiences.” Miss R*

“The power and obligations between choreographers and dancers have always been an issue worth exploring, but the desire for benefits and opportunities, or the long-standing class concepts, have long made people let go of them and even regard certain things as laws.” Miss Q*

“The role of choreographer is becoming more and more equal to that of dancer in this generation.” Miss V*

“Dancing is a form of morality, but without respect it is nothing.” Miss S*

“From in and out, people who are also exploring personal morality behind art, the spirit of not being afraid of limitations, the wisdom to navigate the conflict flexibly, carrying a deep concern for the small details of society, try again to bring about change.I think that kind of art is really amazing.” Mr D*

Does where you place your ego affect how people affirm and respect you? The Taiwanese sculptor Dr. Ju Ming said: "The process of integrating art and spiritual practice is to find oneself in the process of giving up and creating artistic achievements.” I agree that there is a difference in power between choreographers and dancers. The power of a choreograph-ist  is in the guidance and giving advice based on the work and the status of a dancer. A good choreographer should have control over their physical and verbal behaviour. Referring back to Tash and how she talks about preserving the glamour, not the ardour nor the honour, I like her preserving procedures:
 

• First, we must become life-long learners, seek and invite our elders to speak and inform our future by recounting the past stories and compensate them for their intellectual property.

• Second, we must review and reframe all of the narratives taught. Document and map our entire experience from the early sources without corrupting its core.

• Third, we must be willing to assist, lend our voices, and serve something higher. This is the mandate we shall all vow to uphold to avoid facing the erasure of our elders' incredible legends.

Whether a dance-ist, choreograph-ist or teach-ist, these procedures remind me that we are all striving for something similar, to influence people based on our artistic accomplishment and/or our knowledge. If we do not have good role models for future generations, then it will become harder to convince students to listen and follow.