The Slave Princess in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

The Slave Princess in Kota Kinabalu

Teo May Jean; Photo: James Quah

The production of The Slave Princess was staged on 28-29 August 2009 at the Tun Raffae Auditorium Yayasan Sabah and was organized by The Dance Society of Malaysia, the Rotary Club of Tanjung Aru, The Society of Performing Arts Kota Kinabalu (SPArKS) and SRJK Chung Hwa KK and Living Hope Malaysia. The performance was staged as a fund-raising performance for SRJK Chung Hwa Building Fund, Jireh Home, and PACOS Trust.

The production of The Slave Princess choreographed by Lee Yupin, was last staged at the Istana Budaya in November 2007 with Bryan Chan and Ellyn Chew and Suhaili Ahmad Kamil as the leads but this East Malaysia production featured a new and younger cast. Prior to this, there was a 1999 staging which was danced by Too Cyndee and Umesh Shetty which indicates that it is a production that has the ability to showcase the talents and provide a platform for the best ballet dancers in Malaysia of a particular era, much like what Lee Lee Lan’s Soraya was in 1981-82 when Elsie Mak, Serena Tan, Wong Fook Choon and the late Steven Poh played the leading roles.  

The Slave Princess is a ballet in two acts that tells of the rivalry between the two princes Yubri, a more kind and loving soul, and his brother, Prince Raven, who has a more domineering and darker personality, and wishes to expand the Kingdom at any and all cost. It is Prince Raven who has discovered the riches and the slave girls that are brought to the market for sale to the highest bidder, which is reminiscent of Le Corsaire choreographed by Marius Petipa. Le Corsaire is a three-act ballet, with a libretto originally created by Saint-Georges based on the poem The Corsair by Byron. In this libretto, the two princes battle for freedom and treatment of the slaves.

Prince Yubri who is the heir apparent of the Kingdom of Urak is asked by his parents to marry but he unfortunately cannot find a suitable mate although many were introduced to him. This ballet reaches a climax when Prince Yubri falls in love with a slave girl but cannot marry because of the difference of their status in life. However, as ballet stories go, she turns out to be the long lost daughter of a King of a neighbouring country and thus Yubri is permitted to follow his heart and marry her. There is a great celebration in the land.

The principal dancers for this production were Chew Zi Xin who played the slave princess while Lu Wit Chin took on the role of Prince Yubri. Both these dancers were on holiday from the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts where they are pursuing professional training and worked intensively on this production for a period of two months. While only 18, Zi Xin was the consummate professional who played her role with tremendous maturity in expression, an ethereal quality with secure, if not outstanding, ballet technique. Wit Chin, who is a contemporary dance major struggled a little with certain sections of the ballet virtuoso solos especially the movements en ménage, grand pirouettes and double tours. However, these are extremely difficult and it was brave of him to put himself in this situation and he undoubtedly learned much from this experience. The couple carried the ballet on their young shoulders and danced with great style and confidence. They brought the house down with their prowess. They shared a sincere and truthful quality that made the roles believable and have tremendous potential for the future.

The cast of the four princesses or Jewels were equally delightful - danced by Teoh May Jean, Tan Sheih Mei, Ellya Sam Mun-yee and Isabelle Brouwers - each variation had panache and individuality that brought to life Yupin’s exquisite ballet choreography. All four young dancers showed passion and flair and hold great potential for the future should they choose careers in the arts. They were supported by the veterans of the company Choo Tee Kuang, Low Ming Yam and Joseph Gonzales who had ironically all studied ballet together in 1984 with Elsie Mak. It was a memorable reunion for the ‘character dancers’, although Low had the extremely challenging role of Prince Raven that required Russian split jumps, pirouettes and floor sequences. This East Malaysia production was supported by 18 enthusiastic dancers from the Alpha Ballet School under the guidance and strict supervision of Joan Lu, and actors from the Seri Insan School.  It was especially meaningful for the younger group of East Malaysian dancers to work alongside their more senior and experienced counterparts from the West and that excitement was palpable and inspiring. The senior dancers too, took great joy in sharing the knowledge and experience and that generosity and spirit of exchange is the most enduring legacy of this production.  

It was a great effort to bring a full-length ballet production to Kota Kinabalu and it was warmly and enthusiastically received by an audience that was not familiar to ballet. It was a real treat for the audience and who showed their appreciation with thunderous applause. The efforts by these volunteers and ballet mistress Goh Siew Hiong, who worked tirelessly to stage this production, must be mentioned.

The opportunity to reach a larger community of balletomanes was highly commendable. This effort is crucial in propagating the art of ballet or any art form for that matter. The Slave Princess served not simply to entertain but to educate the audience in keeping with the aspirations of The Dance Society of Malaysia. Heartiest congratulations to Sunny Chan and his able committee who have continued to shoulder the responsibility of raising the standards of ballet performance through their annual classical ballet competitions and special performances such as The Slave Princess which require selflessness and passion beyond belief. It is clear that if Malaysia intends to push the standards of classical ballet, then it must move beyond the focus of only the Royal Academy of Dance and Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing examinations. There should ideally be regular opportunities to perform repertoire and working together with the best local dancers. This means gathering the aspiring professionals from the various local schools under the umbrella of The Dance Society is one way to go. For now, these one-off opportunities are the best option that is available and greatly appreciated by the industry. Kudos to all of them, the dancers and the teachers involved.