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Chloe Loung

Patsy Lo has just flown into Hong Kong from Tokyo, where she is now based, and the humidity is doing what humidity does.
It is a far cry from Patagonia, where just months ago, Lo and a small arts team from Asia spent days hiking in punishing conditions to shoot Anamnesis II. The 10-minute experimental dance film blends contemporary movement with the raw, unforgiving beauty of the Patagonian Steppe shared by Argentina and Chile.
Shot in the shadow of Mount Fitz Roy, the film is the second instalment in Lo’s Anamnesis series – a Greek-derived word meaning “recollection” or “remembrance” – and explores how memory is written into the body through exhaustion, intimacy and sustained movement.

But to understand the film, one must first understand the journey that brought Lo there.
Before committing to an artist’s life, hers was anything but. Now 57, Lo had the textbook zero-to-hero story: growing up in a 500 sq ft (46 square metre) flat in Hong Kong’s Mong Kok district shared with five family members, she pushed through school and climbed the corporate ladder until she landed her dream job at Apple.
But that dream came at a cost. In her early forties, while working for the company in Beijing, she developed shingles.
What followed was a spiral: she saw countless doctors and was prescribed a flurry of sedatives and antidepressants alongside medication for her physical symptoms, all of which she refused to take for fear of becoming dependent on them. Eventually, she grew so unwell that she could not wear clothes, leave her bed or eat without throwing up.

From illness to health – and dance
One night, desperate and exhausted, she prayed. “I said, ‘OK, God. All my life, I’ve worked really hard and chased what success meant to me. I will take these pills. If it means that I am turning into someone dependent on drugs to find balance, I accept this life.’ Because I’d done my best, and it didn’t seem to work.”
Lo recovered two months later, aided by acupuncture and natural therapy.
She stayed at Apple for another three years, working in Singapore and California, before finally walking away in 2018. What followed was an unexpected pivot: she moved to Paris and enrolled in the Paris Marais Dance School, training 20 hours a week at 48.
“It was because I saw Cirque du Soleil in Macau,” she recalls. “It wasn’t the acrobats or performers doing crazy things that moved me. It was this boy rocking back and forth to the side of the stage. Anyone could do that, but he did it in a way that was so present. You could tell there was no noise in his head. And I thought, ‘I want that. Give me that.’
“In Europe, people say you don’t have to have technical skills to dance if you have something to say with your body. You can lie there and still call it dance.”

Lo’s dance journey began with no prior experience, and the early years were gruelling. She was not flexible, struggled with turns and constantly compared herself to classmates who had trained since childhood. She had to learn how to stop judging every step.
“Two years ago, I finally felt I could dance,” she says. Not long after, she founded her own performance arts company, SML Dance.
Filming Anamnesis II
Her first trip to Patagonia came four years ago, and everything changed for Lo again.
She was struck by the honesty of the landscape – the unrelenting wind, the ancient mountains, the impossibility of control.
“There was a moment when I was pinned against the wall of a cliff and couldn’t move,” Lo says. “There was nothing I could do except wait. But those moments were so peaceful. My brain wasn’t spinning. I wasn’t worrying about the future or regretting the past. I was just there.”
That peace became the foundation for her art. “Nature is honest,” she says. “It doesn’t lie. And I wanted to capture that.”
Anamnesis II was financed by Lo and shot with a team of six: director Takuya Setomitsu, co-choreographer Yuh Egami of Hong Kong Ballet, dance artist Hiroki Ichinose, visual artist Shi Shimu, casting and logistics lead Miki Sato, and Lo. Professional Patagonian mountain guide Facundo Jios shepherded the expedition, drawing on his experience of climbing to the summit of Fitz Roy and other peaks in the region.


The result is a film that Lo describes as a “quiet opening” – an invitation to experience the vulnerability and awe she found in Patagonia. It premiered across the Upper House hotel group’s properties in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Chengdu this month, with behind-the-scenes footage and intimate conversations with the creative team.
It follows her first Anamnesis film, shot on Japan’s Sado Island in 2025, which blended traditional Japanese Noh theatre with contemporary dance. More instalments are planned, including one in Kyushu and another focused on femininity.
“Art is very personal,” Lo says. “I did it for me.”
Anamnesis II will be released on YouTube and Instagram later in 2026, alongside a small number of curated in-person screenings in Hong Kong and beyond.


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Performing arts in Hong Kong

Patsy Lo reveals the inspirational story behind her journey to become a dancer and filmmaker. Photo: Jonathan Wong

A scene from Lo’s latest dance film Anamnesis II, shot in Patagonia. Photo: Patsy Lo

Lo hikes on the Patagonian Steppe during the making of Anamnesis II. Photo: Patsy Lo

Lo took up dancing at 48, training 20 hours a week at the Paris Marais Dance School. Photo: Jonathan Wong

A behind-the-scenes shot of the team’s trip to Patagonia for Anamnesis II. Photo: Patsy Lo

Dance artist Hiroki Ichinose stars in Anamnesis II. Photo: Patsy Lo

Fredric Mao attends the launch of the Mao Chun-fai Performing Arts Charity Foundation at the Hong Kong Arts Centre on September 3, 2026. The performing arts veteran set up the foundation to strengthen and expand Hong Kong’s theatre ecosystem – the development of which he says has been “far too slow”. Photo: Mao Chun-fai Performing Arts Charity Foundation

Mao (left) performs in the United States early in his career. Photo: Fredric Mao Chun-fai

Mao in a scene from the 2002 play “A Dream Like a Dream”. Photo: Fredric Mao Chun-fai

Prominent figures from Hong Kong’s cultural and arts sectors were among those who attended the launch ceremony of the Mao Chun-fai Performing Arts Charity Foundation. Photo: The Mao Chun-fai Performing Arts Charity Foundation

Mao with his wife, Amy Wu, who is the founding vice-chairperson of the new foundation. Photo: Mao Chun-fai Performing Arts Charity Foundation

Hong Kong Ballet takes on China’s Mogao Caves in Dunhuang: In Search of Light

Promotional image for “Dunhuang: In Search of Light”, a new production by Hong Kong Ballet choreographed by the award-winning duo Ricky Hu and Mai Jingwen. The premiere will take place from October 16-18, 2026 (Image courtesy of Hong Kong Ballet)

Choreographers Ricky Hu (left) and Mai Jingwen at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. The husband-and-wife team have choreographed Hong Kong Ballet’s new production, Dunhuang: In Search of Light, which premieres in October. Photo: Jonathan Wong

A promotional image for Hong Kong Ballet’s Dunhuang: In Search of Light, choreographed by Hu and Mai. Photo: Hong Kong Ballet

People visit the Mogao Caves site in Dunhuang, northwestern China. Photo: EPA

Hu and Mai began their training in Chinese folk dance before transitioning to choreography. Photo: Jonathan Wong

54 horses dazzle at Cavalluna’s Hong Kong debut, despite cliché story

An equestrian stunt performer balancing on the side of her horse at a performance of Cavalluna – Gate to the Otherworld. The show is in Hong Kong until September 13 at Kai Tak Arena. Photo: Cavalluna

One of the stars and her white horse in Cavalluna – Gate to the Otherworld. Photo: Cavalluna

A scene from Cavalluna – Gate to the Otherworld. Photo: Cavalluna

How Cantopop lyricist Wyman Wong pushed Hong Kong’s LGBTQ, style and emotional boundaries

Wyman Wong attends the Ultimate Song Chart Awards 2016 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on January 1, 2017. The Hong Kong lyricist, actor and fashionista has written career-defining hits for many Cantopop singers, appeared in various movies, designed and written about fashion, and promoted LGBTQ visibility in his home city. Photo: Visual China Group via Getty Images

Wong works at Commercial Radio’s studio in The Peak Galleria in December 1994. Photo: SCMP

Wong (left) and Sandra Ng team up for a wild dance routine in 1995. Photo: Tony Aw

Wong (right) and composer Ronald Ng Lok-shing at an interview with the SCMP in 2002. Photo: Wan Kam-yan

Wong at an interview with the SCMP in 2012. Photo: Jonathan Wong

(From left) Wong, artist Hilary Tsui Ho-ying, singer-songwriter Anthony Wong Yiu-ming, Tanya Chan of Hong Kong’s now-defunct Civic Party, lawmaker Raymond Chan Chi-chuen of People Power, and singer Denise Ho Wan-see lead the Hong Kong Pride Parade on November 10, 2012. Photo: Nora Tam

Wong films a special episode of ATV’s game show, 1 vs 100, in 2006. Photo: Felix Wong

Wong walks the catwalk during the Vivienne Westwood show as part of Milan Fashion Week Menswear Autumn/Winter 2013 in Milan, Italy on January 13, 2013. Photo: Getty Images

Lifestyle

Arts

Patsy Lo talks about making her latest dance film in Patagonia, being struck down by illness, and why she left Apple to pivot to dancing


Patsy Lo talks about making her latest dance film in Patagonia, being struck down by illness, and why she left Apple to pivot to dancing.


World of performing arts

The inspiring story of Hong Kong dancer and filmmaker who began at 48 after leaving Apple

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Patsy Lo talks about making her latest dance film in Patagonia, being struck down by illness, and why she left Apple to pivot to dancing

Patsy Lo talks about making her latest dance film in Patagonia, being struck down by illness, and why she left Apple to pivot to dancing