The Thing About Talent Is,....

Malaysians are a talented lot in the arts and culture scene. I kid you not.

Last night, I was at Salsa Havana watching Devil Bunny's salsa performance. She was great and so was the rest of her team. It's hard to believe that about a year ago - we started out in the same class - she's SO good now, twirling and gliding across the floor effortlessly.

Very classy. Very sensuous. Very fast and fluid movements. Very impressive.

(Me? I'm so out of practice, have not done the salsa for 1 year and I can hardly remember the steps!! And it's intimidating to be in a club, where almost everyone, lives and breathes salsa. It's as if they were all born South American!)

But regardless, which school you've learnt from - Salsa Sam's LA Style, the Cuban Style, or some of the other schools, etc. - the variety truly enriches the local salsa scene.

And if you look at numbers of people in Q-Bar and Salsa Havana, you'd realize that the local salsa community is growing at an exponential rate. It's nice to be in salsa bars - there are more people dancing than sitting down and gulping their drinks.

This foreign dance culture is taking over our clubs, by storm. There's a very real chance that one day, if you don't know how to do the salsa, you'd be regarded as someone who doesn't know how to dance.

Malaysians are not a cultureless lot. It's not true to say that they just work, eat, complain about the Government and sleep. When they're passionate about it - they soak up the culture, better than sponge.

Salsa can be hard work to be good at and it's obvious that all these people have put in the work, in absorbing this Latin dance culture, into their lives. And they're very good at it.

I guees at one time, in our parents' days, the "twist" must have made the same wildfire impact, on their youth generation. I remember P. Ramlee highlighting this in some of his movies, then. And boy, can Malaysians "twist"!

(How wonderful if something from our local culture could be this vibrant and exciting and widely taken up with passion, by Malaysians of all races)


There's something about the passionate music beat and the way two dancers sensuously glide with speed, in unison and intertwined to one another, that's simply breathtaking to watch. Honestly, I could have sat there last night and watched people dance all night.


In particular, the Yahoo Guy was extremely good. I've known him as an acquaintance for a long time - but it was the first time I'd seen him do the salsa. And he was fantastic - it showed that he had a background in various Latin dances. If I could be 20% the dancer that he was last night - I'd consider myself quite lucky already.


It's regrettable that I'be forgotten all my steps, because 2 girls (and one of them was very cute) had asked me to dance, last night. But salsa being a dance where the man has to lead, I gently declined - as I can't remember the steps.

But I felt so stupid - at probably no other time in past history, would I have 2 girls asking inviting me to dance, on the same night! :(

I'm just crap at remembering choreography. I was relieved when Angel Rabbit Boy complained that he had the same problem. Phew! At least, I'm not the only one whose a bit daft, in this area.

But yes, a salsa comeback is definitely on the cards. I think I'm going to visit Salsa Sam's studio one of these days and rejoin the beginner classes!

Watch this space - 6 months down! (Macam real jeeee,...)

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Joe Hasham, our very own local theatre doyen commented recently, on how surprised he was at the volume of local singing talent, that we have in Malaysia.

He held an audition recently for a musical (if I remember it correctly) and he made the observation that the majority of Malaysians who turned up, could sing - and some, astoundingly well.

I would agree with him. Most weekends that I spend singing at Star KTV Bangsar, always surprises me. There will always be one person in the lounge or a few rooms away, that will just blow you away with their vocal sweetness and prowess.


Maybe we don't lack talent in Malaysia - maybe we're just like our Indonesian and Filipino counterparts. Maybe Malaysians are just closet vocal powerhouses - thinking that it's a talent that should remain private. Maybe they feel that you can't make a decent living from it, in Malaysia.

At least, talent competitions like Malaysian Idol and Akademi Fantasia seemed to have spread the singing bug, to many Malaysians. They're beginning to ask: Why NOT me?

And that is a good question to ask. We can't nurture culture - be it song, dance, theatre, films, art or writing, without a vibrant talent pool that's willing to come forward and show us what they've got.

It's talent that sparkles, attracts and inspires others, to do the same. It's talent that enriches the landscape of any culture, at any level. Not only for the current generation, but also for the next generation.

We're more than what our jobs and responsibilities dictate us to be. And a thriving arts and culture scene would allow us the space to be more than that -
it makes us more well-rounded and holistic human beings.

Perhaps, even a little superstar in our own tiny local space - whatever your hidden talents are.

Why not?