The current state of ballet practice

Chang Huey Sze, 2nd place winner of Adult Open, in her Kitri variation from Don Quixote.

The 12th Annual Solo Classical Ballet Competition
The Dance Society of Malaysia
30 May – 1 June
Malaysian Tourism Centre

The Dance Society [TDS] solo ballet competition gives a good snapshot impression of the state of local ballet instruction, practice and performance, but it can be a bit of a gamble. Last year, coming after a long hiatus, I found the standards at the competition a little disappointing. Category 3, the youngest group of dancers, who are not required to dance en pointe, I found to be the most vivacious, and Category 2, the first group of dancers required to dance en pointe, seemed to have the strongest technique, while Category 1, the senior group, was fairly disastrous. The judges apparently thought so too. Last year they decided not to award the coveted 1st position for Category 1, giving the hopefuls only 2nd and 3rd.

However, TDS has not despaired. This year they introduced a new category, the Adult Open, to cope with those over the age limit for Category 1, which indicates quite a degree of confidence in the state of ballet instruction and practice in Malaysia. Never mind that they only got three entrants for the Adult Open! At least they decided that the 1st prize was deserved, and it was duly awarded, likewise across the age-limited categories.

Suhaili Ahmad Kamil, 3rd place winner in the Adult Open, dancing Gamzatti from La Bayadere.

This year I attended the TDS competition as part of Camp Aurora. Ballet can be competitive at the best of times, even without prizes on offer, and this event is no exception. TDS has made a diplomatic decision not to include the names of the studios from which the dancers hail on the program, but still there is quite a bit of sizing-up and posturing between ballet schools behind the scenes – where would the fun be otherwise? Being allied with Aurora School of Dance as a result of my friendship with Suhaili Ahmad Kamil, I was unabashedly routing for the four entrants from Aurora, who, I’m happy to announce, came up trumps. With all four entrants qualified for the finals, Mrs Suraya Ahmad Kamil, the principal of Aurora, was happy, and happier still after all the results were announced.

Teo May Jean, Category 2 first place winner.

Talent at ballet schools, as in nationwide competitions, comes in waves, and this year Aurora is lucky to have a particularly talented and hardworking trio in its Advanced 2 Ballet class – Teo May Jean (this year’s 1st place winner of Category 2), Siti Amellia Feroz (2nd place winner in Category 2) and Nelly Chew, who went home with the Category 2 consolation prize. But there is talent coming up in the ranks too – the spectacularly beautiful Amelia Thripura Henderson, who has only recently started studying ballet but is obviously naturally gifted, walked away with a surprise first place in Category 3. And Suhaili, who herself coached, joked with, criticised and comforted the other competitors from Aurora in preparation for this competition, worked hard for the Adult Open Category, but had to be content with third place.

The versatile Category 1 second place winner, Chew Zi Xin.

Winning a national ballet competition in Malaysia is not the equivalent of doing so in other places that take ballet more seriously. It’s unnecessary to point out that the local standard is lower. More importantly, an event that might rocket a dancer to fame and stardom overseas, or at the very least to a few decent job offers, here passes as an item to be checked by overachievers on the way to adulthood, like getting 13 A1s, or passing your Grade 8 piano exam. With no local ballet company to go to, there are no jobs on offer. A few dancers will move into teaching and perhaps set up their own studio. Some, perhaps, will go overseas in search of a career, but most will give up dancing altogether, perhaps when they start college, certainly when they leave college, and never look back. And after seeing the hard work and talent on offer at the TDS competition this year, that makes me immensely sad.

Showing absolute clarity of line, Category 1 first place winner Lee Jia Xi.

Take 18-year old Chew Zi Xin, winner of last year’s Category 2, who this year bagged 2nd place in the most coveted Category 1, despite her youth. She’s a great all-rounder, transitioning smoothly from very classical pieces to a contemporary style with lots of floor work. Both fast and strong, she appears on stage to have genuine enjoyment for what she does. The Category 1 first place winner, Lee Jia Xi, is a very different creature. She chose her routines – Odile’s triumphant solo from Swan Lake Act 3, and a slow exacting choice variation — to showcase her extremely strong sense of placement and line, and absolute control. I would like to see more of what she can do, but the TDS competition is one of the few occasions when Jia Xi, and many other dancers of her calibre, come out of the woodwork to perform for a broader audience. And at least we don’t have to worry about keeping an eye out for Raymond Liew, 3rd place winner in Category 1. He dominates this year’s dance diploma graduates from ASWARA, and is a convincing choreographer in addition to being able to bring the house down with his jumps. Or maybe it’s just nice to see a boy at the TDS competition, one with capable technique and a good dose of testosterone.

Raymond Liew, 3rd place winner of Category 1, in flight in his slave variation from Le Corsaire.

Boys are thin on the ground in ballet anywhere in the world, but more striking, I thought, was the racial breakdown of the competitors. It is apparently agreed, now, that only Chinese girls should fight for the top spots at a ballet competition, but has it always been so? Yes, there are a scattering of Malays and Indians in the younger ranks, but while there are a few Indians are still slogging through the upper categories, the supply of Malays seems to dry up when they reach Category 2, aged 15 to 17. I suspect that this has less to do with genetic natural talent than with nice Malay families not wanting to see their daughters flashing their legs in pink tights in public after they reach puberty. But black tights are always an option! Witness Siti Amellia Feroz, winner of second place in Category 2, whose panache and style were equal to any throughout the competition. In the required routine she demured with a little romantic country-style number, but in the choice routine she pulled out the stops, flashing eyes as well as legs to win the judges around. And black tights are not the only option — I believe that there are imaginative ways in which Muslim families can get around their trepidation about seeing their daughters on stage. They needn’t give up altogether. In all types of dance we need to resist the surge to ghettoisation by ethnicity, and ballet, by dint of being an ‘impartial’ import from the West, has the additional opportunity to be a middle ground where dancers from all races can come together, in competition or not.

Up Next: TDS Solo Classical Ballet Competition

The highlight of the year for many earnest and trembling little would-be ballerinas from dance studios across the Klang Valley. Divided into four categories (this year introducing the new professional-level Open Category), this is a celebration of technique and classicism. Suhaili Ahmad Kamil, Most Promising Artist at the recent BOH Cameronian Arts Awards, will be competing for the top spot. Check out the finals on Monday 1 June at the Malaysian Tourism Centre on Ampang Road.

Innocence and Experience

Flower Drum.

Dance Waves 2008
Ellie Zhou Ballet Studio
23 August 2008, 8pm
Securities Commission Auditorium

Some have complained [see The Lab -- Tapestry of the Heart] that the presence of the ‘aunties’ in Ellie Zhou Ballet Studio recitals is distracting and disappointing. I disagree, as long as they are used in moderation . I think we are used to seeing dance as tricks and stunts, pure athleticism, and it is refreshing to be reminded that there is more to it than that.

Saturday evening’s adults’ performance of Dance Waves 2008 (the children’s performance had taken place earlier in the day, a wise logistical decision) featured 16 items, five of which were performed by decidedly ‘adult’ students – a group of women, some of whom have clearly exceeded the limits of being aunties, and are probably grandmothers. Nevertheless, their dances – some Western, including a mazurka, a polka and a rendition of Carmen, and some Chinese, with huge fluttering fans – which were scattered amidst the younger items, were something of a welcome relief. Many dance studios emphasize technical skill to the detriment of quality of performance. These women, with their confidence and grace, proudly displayed the advantages of maturity. They understood, better than their younger counterparts, the emotional background of the pieces – where sly coquetry should replace cheer, or quiet meditation interrupt boisterousness. I was reminded of the saying of anthropologist Margaret Mead that the post-menopausal woman with zest is the most productive individual on earth.

Half Moon.

These women certainly had zest; they also had verve and confidence. They gave the lie to our belief that only the young should dance. And these were not mutton dressed as lamb (with the possible exception of the final polka) – their movements were entirely appropriate for their age. We should all hope to be stirred, at their age, by the beauty of the half moon or the flower drum, and coaxed into movement by the strong rhythms of Carmen or the mazurka.

Isabelle Brouwers in Il Cardellino.

This is not to say that there weren’t impressive displays of athleticism and technique during the recital – far from it. Twelve-year old Isabelle Brouwers, who has been accepted into the prestigious and historic Royal Ballet School in England, presented three solos which demonstrated the vivacity and single-minded discipline that only youth can produce. Isabelle has huge extensions, absolute control with her pointe work, especially multiple pirouettes, and a pleasant no-nonsense stage manner, which suggest that one day she will mature into a beautiful dancer. That she is not quite one yet – her transitions are a little lost between her stunts, and she seems too long between wrist and elbow – is not at all her fault; she is twelve! There are some qualities (thankfully) that can only be produced by age.

Isabelle Brouwers in Esmerelda.

For now, Isabelle is clearly very hardworking as well as talented, and is a glittering idol for all the other breathless twelve-year old ballet students in the audience!

Innocence and experience combined well in the performances of the older dancers, especially those involved in the pre-professional ballet program that EZBS runs, which is probably the most intensive ballet training program in this country. Yellow River, performed in soft shoe, effectively evoked the swirling currents and idle backwaters of the great river. The dancers were all beautifully trained in this challenging piece with has very few pauses. Their collective manner – now joyous, now thoughtful, now grand – made it one of the most enjoyable performances of the evening.

Swirling currents in Yellow River.

My favourite item, however, was the Korean dance, in which Hii Ing Fung shone – her circle of turns on her knees was one of the only events to elicit spontaneous applause from the audience. But she is not a trick pony – her technique is almost eclipsed by her expression which radiates through her entire body, with cheeky glances and brazen moves making way for uplifted eyes which carry the soul with them to the sky.

I love watching Ing Fung dance, but I think the audience choice award for the evening would go to the Tibetan folk dance presented by guest dancers from ASWARA, the national arts academy, trained by Zhou Guixin who is the artistic director of EZBS. The basic form of this folk dance, with its bouncing steps and long white sleeves flicking upwards, is joyous by nature, but the ASWARA dancers found in it an extra element of pure happiness. Joseph Gonzales, director of the dance department at ASWARA, sometimes bemoans the fact that his dancers have a somewhat simplistic approach to dance – “How did you feel while you performed this piece?” he might ask, to which they would answer, “Wah! Enjoy!” Perhaps in other works this simplicity trips the ASWARA dancers up, but in this work they were perfect. The group of dancers sitting near me had performed Tibetan folk dance for the musical “Jewel of Tibet” and they exclaimed in delight all the way through the ASWARA performance. During the applause at the end, the dancer next to me leaned over and said, of the entirely Malay cast, “They are better than Chinese!” High praise, indeed!

The pièce de resistance of the evening, however, was the half-hour rendition of Swan Lake at the end. Mostly taken from the third act in which the princesses seek to impress Prince Siegfried at court, this was a Swan Lake more technical than operatic. The solos, which demonstrate the whole range of challenging technique, are difficult for professional dancers, and some of them were a stretch for the EZBS dancers. It takes a very competent dancer to make hops on one foot en pointe look anything but painful and awkward, and it takes an artist to make them look anything but a stunt. But there were some nice moments: Elynn Chew, in her Odette pas de deux, had lovely arms, Annie Liew was great at the moment in the midst of her solo when she forgot herself enough to enjoy the dancing, and Goh Siew Hiong gave the most confident technical performance in her allegro, accompanying the exhausting leaps throughout with charming expression. Zhou Guixin danced as Prince Siegfried and is obviously a very dependable partner: his supported pirouettes en pointe never going astray. However, the crown went to Foo Siau Yin, dancing the Black Swan despite a painful injury to her left foot. She was in character, both sassy and commanding, and her arabesques (on her good foot) rock solid.

Alyzsa Lim in

The whole event was such an achievement for a ballet school, especially considering that all of the items were choreographed by Zhou Guixin, except Alyzsa Lim’s solo “Sense of You” and Petipa’s Swan Lake. Alyzsa’s solo made good use of variations in its movement and of different levels, as well as creating a strong emotional atmosphere, but I am a little disappointed that more of the older dancers at EZBS are not venturing into choreography. Obviously, with Mr Zhou as a choreographer and Ellie Lai as the principal, the EZBS dancers have a lot to live up to, but considering their performances on Saturday night, they rise to the challenge.

Isabelle Brouwers in Il Cardellino.

Isabelle Brouwers in Esmerelda.

Flower Drum.

Half Moon.

Swirling currents in Yellow River.

Alyzsa Lim in ‘Sense of You’.

Carmen.

Mazurka.

Mazurka.

Elynn Chew in “Pastoral”.

Elynn Chew in “Pastoral”.

Elynn Chew in “Pastoral”.

Elynn Chew in “Pastoral”.

Flower Drum.

Flower Drum.

Yellow River.

Yellow River.

Yellow River.

Yellow River, Hii Ing Fung on left.

Yellow River.

Yellow River.

Yellow River.

Yellow River, Kong Bee Chin in centre.

Yellow River.

Yellow River.

Yellow River.

Yellow River.

Half Moon.

Half Moon.

Half Moon.

Isabelle Brouwers in ‘Il Cardellino’.

Isabelle Brouwers in ‘Il Cardellino’.

Alyzsa Lim in ‘Sense of You’.

Alyzsa Lim in ‘Sense of You’.

Zhou Guixin in ‘Eagle’.

Zhou Guixin in ‘Eagle’.

Carmen.