Dancing with Anthems, Godzilla and Laser Pointers: Performance as Protest in the Post-Umbrella Movement Era and the 2019 Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill movement in Hong Kong

Abstract

In this paper, I explore public performances in protest as a form of civic participation, especially for performances that aim to challenge and critique two controversial laws in Hong Kong, the Anthem Law and the Anti-Extradition Law. I focus on how arguments presented in the protest are performed in public, particularly on how participants make use of their voices and bodies in improvised and choreographed ways. I focus on two examples. The first is a series of “flash mob” events organized by the pro-democracy political party, Demosistō, who performed and parodied the national anthem, “March of the Volunteers”. The second example is a public assembly during the Anti-Extradition Law movement, where protestors used laser pointers to transform a protest space into a disco-like dance floor. I read these cases in dialogue with scholarship on performativity by Judith Butler, Richard Schechner, Jorge Cadena-Roa and Cristina Puga. I focus on how protestors navigate identity through performing with music in public space, where civic engagement manifests as bodily movements, sound and voices.