creative process

“Beaches” with Bound Feet – footbinding and female friendship

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

In Chinese tradition, where marriages were made for social or business reasons and where women – especially those with tiny bound feet – were seen as trophies, there was a recognition that women would not find much emotional comfort, love or meaningful human connection with their husbands.

So as part of this tradition, girls were given “sworn sisters”  who would be their emotional partner – rather like the “blood brothers” relationship that boys would have. These formally sanctioned and socially accepted partnerships were known as “laotongs”.

I learnt about this intriguing custom from the film Snow Flower and The Secret Fan which I discovered over the weekend, based on the novel by Lisa See. How had I not known about this touching tradition before now!

Here is the official movie trailer:

The movie is about two female friendships, one set in modern Shanghai and the other in 19th century China, during the Boxer Rebellion. The same two actresses portray the two pairs of friends. The arc of the story has echoes Continue reading →

You can be trained to walk perfectly poised in stilettos, says walking expert – High Heels Masterclass

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I’ve been researching how the body moves when walking in high heels as part of the preparation for my solo show Bound Feet Blues. As I am performing the whole piece in bare feet, my aim is to give a flavour of the movements rather than walking in actual high heel shoes.

weak hip muscles

My Googling on the topic of walking in high heels took me to the Perfectly Poised website of a walking expert Martin Bell who offers a High Heels Masterclass. It looks like a brilliant service for all those women who Continue reading →

How hard hearted can I be in Editing Bound Feet Blues?

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment
I Finished the script of Bound Feet Blued a couple of weeks ago. Now be hard task of editing it begins.
 
 
 
I laid out all 25 pages of the script on the dining table so that I could see the flow of the story in one glance. Also, having it spread out in front of me means that I could see how each section relates to other sections.
 
 
 
Assuming three minutes per page, the script was running to about 75 minutes – which is the outside running time. My aim is to try and
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Solo Performance: Bound Feet Blues – A Life Told in Shoes (work in progress)

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In Chinese tradition, women with tiny bound feet were desirable as wives and lovers, their delicate feet seen as objects of both status and sexual fetish. In her first full length storytelling piece Bound Feet Blues – A Life Told in Shoes, Chinese-Malaysian story performer Yang-May Ooi explores themes of female desirability, identity and empowerment in this personal story told through the shoes in her life.

The image of Chinese women with bound feet has haunted me since I was a child. I think of these women who have been crippled for life ever since they were 4 years old, unable to walk, with broken stumps for feet beneath the delicately embroidered silk shoes. Just so they can appear to have little, dainty feet and seem to be elegant and graceful – and therefore desirable and marriageable.

Small Feet

I’ve always had small, delicate feet. My shoe size is 3.5 and it’s a real problem trying to Continue reading →