Back in September 2017, MedArt was invited to help select and train singers and dancers from the Lo Wu Correctional Institution for their 2018 Certificate Presentation Ceremony.

Subsequently, Queenie Yeung (dance teacher) and I made 6 trips to Lo Wu to find suitable people for the performance. Two rehearsals were held each week from January up to the performance date for our 12 singers and 15 dancers, separately at the beginning and jointly after three weeks. It was by no means an easy task to teach this group of people from different nationalities to sing in Cantonese for Roman Tam's 紅棉 and Mandarin for Andy Lau's 中國人, and dancers with no previous dance experience to do Chinese dance (fan dance and kung fu dance). Our performance was to convey a theme of harmony between ONs (inmates of Other Nationalities) and the locals, and indeed, we witnessed how initial tensions between the two groups turned into people helping  each other with language and dancing skills, eventually developing into a strong bond of friendship.
Their joint effort to put together a perfect performance knitted a beautiful picture of harmony which was evidenced in the final performance. The show was hailed 'by far the best among all CPCs performances' by the Commissioner of Correctional Services Department (CSD). Overseas guests who came to observe how CSD promotes harmony among inmates were highly impressed with what they saw. CSD recognizes how dance and singing can help rehabilitate inmates from different backgrounds and has invited MedArt to organize classes on a regular basis. As a result, MedArt has been holding dance classes monthly since July this year for inmates who wish to join.

May Wu (Chairman of Music Outreach Committee)