Bound Feet Blues featured in Nee Hau, the online magazine for British Chinese and East Asian Culture

October 17, 2015October 10, 2015 / Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

Yang-May Ooi, writer and performer of Bound Feet Blues, has been featured in Nee Hau, the online magazine for British Chinese and East Asian culture. You can read the full article by clicking on the image below.

Here is an extract: “From internationally best-selling fiction author to performing her personal story, with a three-week run at Tristan Bates Theatre scheduled from November 24^th to December 12^th2015, Yang-May has evolved to become the confident storyteller she is today, shining in her 50s. The show is part of the South East Asian Arts Festival 2015 and funded by The Arts Council and The Housing Finance Corporation. Yang-May is supported by a team of experts including Jessica Higgs, creative director, Eldarin Yeong, producer and Hua Tan, theatre designer.” Read the full article..

You can buy tickets for Bound Feet Blues via bit.ly/bfbtickets

DETAILS

Tristan Bates Theatre
1A Tower St, Covent Garden WC2H 9NP

Tue 24 Nov – Sat 12 Dec, Tue – Sat at 7.30pm.
Tickets £16 / £12 concessions.
Q&As post-show, 27 Nov & 4 Dec.

An elderly lady recalls her experience of footbinding [video]

December 3, 2014December 2, 2014 / Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

In this video, a 90+ year old Chinese lady in Malaysia is interviewed, talking about her experience of having her feet bound.

The practice of footbinding did not take place in Malaysia but many women who had had their feet bound as childre migrated to Malaya (as Malaysia used to be called before independence from British rule) in later life.

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Researching the history of the iconic cheongsam, the Chinese traditional dress

November 23, 2014November 23, 2014 / Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

On this wet Sunday afternoon, I am feeling very sorry for myself – laid up with a cold – but I am distracting myself by researching the history of the the cheongsam for Bound Feet Blues, The Book.

What I am learning is that clothing has national and political significance. The cheongsam originated with Manchu rule in China when the Manchurians from the North East overthrew the Ming Dynasty in 1644. They required all men to wear their hair in a plait – known as a queue – and everyone had to wear clothing in the Manchu style: with the high collar and side buttons. Those who defied this requirement could be punished by death. It was a way of dominating the Continue reading →

Yang-May Ooi talking about Bound Feet Blues at SEA Arts Festival 2014 [video]

October 8, 2014October 8, 2014 / Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

Here’s a short video interview of me talking about the inspirations behind Bound Feet Blues and the challenges of bringing it to the stage.

It was filmed just after the Heritage Panel that I took part in, discussing the role of heritage in South East Asian Performance with Anna Nguyen of Trikhon Theatre and Elaine Foo of TrueHeart Theatre.

There’s also a short snippet of me performing a scene from the show for the audience at the Heritage Panel.

Enjoy!

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Imagine a grown woman with baby feet

August 20, 2014August 21, 2014 / Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

It’s difficult for us in the modern world to imagine how small bound feet were. Whenever I say to people that some of the smallest bound feet were only 3 inches long, they register that that is small but it’s only when they see exactly how small 3 inches is, that the horror of it hits them.

In order to illustrate how tiny bound feet were for “Breaking Tradition”, my award-winning talk inspired by the stories in Bound Feet Blues, I went online to order a pair of baby shoes. I searched and searched for baby shoes that were 3 inches long but the smallest size that I could find came to just over 4 inches.

The photo above shows me holding those 4+ inch baby shoes during Continue reading →

Solo Performance: Bound Feet Blues – A Life Told in Shoes (work in progress)

April 10, 2014April 14, 2014 / Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

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.