Serial No: IAH005
Title: Nyonya Dancer
I am happy that I can help preserve and promote our community’s heritage through Nyonya Dance.
Oon Suan See, born 1937
George Town
When I was small, I was not aware of the difference between my family and the other Chinese families. For example, the food we ate was almost the same, except that we would have sambal in every meal. I think my family was very much assimilated. Yes, among the peranakan families we did socialise from time to time, but heritage was not an interest at that time. I think we were very much into the “modern” and “western” trends. I grew up wearing western style clothing.
I joined the Penang State Chinese Association in the 1980s, after I retired as an art teacher. In 1988, the association organised the first Baba Convention and we invited the Nyonya Baba communities from Singapore and Melaka. This was a significant event that generated our interests in own culture and traditions. I remember during the preparations stage, the ladies were busy learning nyonya kuih, searching for kebaya from our grandmother’s wardrobe, and learning the traditional sanggul hair-do. I would say, after that event our community became more aware and proud of our heritage. Since then, we started to participate in public cultural events regularly. It was also during that period that I developed an idea of the “Nyonya Dance”.
Growing up in multicultural Penang, I was exposed to traditional dances and music from the different communities. I wanted to create performances that can represent our nyonya heritage. So I started to curate performances by combining dance elements from different cultures. As for music, I prefered to use the Keroncong. “Dayung Sampan” was one of the favorites.
Today the “Nyonya Dance” featuring graceful dancers in Nyonya kebaya is instantly recognised and associated with our community. I am happy that I can help preserve and promote our community’s heritage in this way.
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