There is a small corner of my world few have seen. It is a place where I let my hair down, a space where I allow chaos to reign and a home I built for the other me .
This space is
riotous,
messy and
whimsical. It is
pink,
loud and
showy. A niche for a
nautch girl, the
boudoir of the
burlesque, needless to say, I love my little corner of the world.
All the personality of this room is contained snugly in what I call my dancer's dresser where I lay some of my most outrageous accessories.
There is the tribal necklace I bought from Pakistan
and the matching bangle with attached rings for each finger.
And then there's this
dramatically risque choker from
Rosanna for the last Christmas. Imagine wearing
nothing else but this around your neck.
Is this what they call Neo-burlesque? Whatever it is, it suits my room to a
T.
Just like the
mesmerizing necklace I won at
Eva's giveaway. I can just imagine using the
blue swirly circles to
hypnotise my
prey.
Then there's the girly side of me that I don't even show myself....
YET, I just can't stop it from surfacing
again
and again.
This is the place I keep the things I love,
store the memories I treasure
dream my impossible dream.
All the places I want to go
All the things I want to see
My excesses
My indulgence
All here in this little corner for a dancer.
The Showgirl In Me
Ever since I was little, I had performed, be it acting, singing or dancing, sometimes all three. My very 1st was in kindergarten when I played a little cat in a Chinese musical. I remembered asking the teacher for the lead role, the chick, but she said no.
This picture was taken when I was 11. It was my first big performance because it was inter-school, meaning we got to perform in a public theatre, attended not only by our parents, but other important people. Of course, it was an Indian dance. Again I got a role I didn't want. I played a boy because I was tall when all I wanted was to wear the pretty sari. I was the last girl-boy on the stairs with the blue bandana that look kind of greenish in this picture.
I finally took control of my own dancer destiny and became a choreographer when I went to university. Ewa, this is Big In Japan, an item I choreographed for the hostel Talentime. I was the center girl with long hair, playing the vamp instead of the demure, partnering who I wanted and wearing what I fancied.
Here is us again, minus all the glam. The trophy I was holding led me to believe we won a prize, probably 2nd but I really cannot remember.
This is a newspaper cutting of an article on
Beauty World, the first homegrown musical production in Singapore back in 1988. My biggest break in showbiz and I played a cabaret girl from the 60's. This was the best role for loads of fun and laughter because being in the chorus meant you have lesser pressure and way more friends. This production went for 5 runs and I was in 3 of them, including the one where we toured 4 cities in Japan. In this picture, I was the 2nd girl from the right with a pink kebaya top and an orange sarong plus a matching kerchief covering my mouth.
Chinese New Year is round the corner and of course, I did some spring cleaning. This year I decided to work on my dressing room, dusting forgotten corners and an almost forgotten past. Thanks to Ewa, I am sharing a small part of this past with you.
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