On stage, the figures crouch, frozen in the shape of the number 20, as 1,200 pairs of eyes wait for their next move. The tension is palpable: what the performers do next will be the culmination of two decades of hard work.
As they begin an emotional performance, these 37 former Academy for Performing Arts (APA) students embody the dreams and aspirations of the thousands who have passed through the academy's doors since they first opened in 1984.
The five-minute piece, entitled Celebrate, the brainchild of leading local choreographer Mui Cheuk-yin, marks the opening of the academy dance school's annual graduation show and the start of the APA's 20th anniversary celebrations. The former students - now dance therapy workers, dance administrators, mothers and big names in the local scene (such as Ronly Kong Wan-yi of the City Contemporary Dance Company and performer Yeung Wai-mei) - get an enthusiastic reception from the first-night audience of journalists.
'This is something the alumni wanted to do,' says Mui, who studied at the APA during a break in her career in 1998. 'It's wonderful to have a chance to work with recent graduates as well as the big sisters I used to work with. I can see the technical abilities are of a very high standard compared with the early days. All of this year's graduates are actively involved in the dance community already.'
In its two decades, the APA has become, arguably, the leading tertiary institution of its kind in Southeast Asia. Rising from the plot of land that was offered by the government in 1984, in a building funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, there are now 750 students in the schools of dance, drama, film and television, music, the technical arts and Chinese traditional theatre. Twenty per cent of students come from outside Hong Kong.
Academy director Professor Lo King-man attributes its success to striving for excellence. 'Arts must be without boundaries,' he says. 'Standards must be the highest possible. Music and dance were established at the start of the academy, and these are the frontline performance schools.'