A queer feminist anthropologist exploring the realities of culture, gender, and sexuality in contemporary Asia
At five past three (China time) today, I saw some fantastic news, via the Guardian's breaking news app: Myanmar elections: ruling party concedes defeat to Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD party This was the best news I could possibly imagine. I shared it. But I knew it was too good, or at least too fast, [...]
I wrote this piece today in Hong Kong. I spent the weekend here with the man I love, and I'm a little sad to leave this whirlwind city. So I got to thinking about the night we met and everything that has happened since. I had never envisaged how my life would change, but it [...]
Tomorrow, Sunday 8th November 2015, is election day. Burma (Myanmar) is in desperate need of change, and, if democratic process is adhered to, the people of Burma will soon have the change they deserve. This is a huge moment for the Burmese people who have fought for freedom and democracy on many fronts for many many [...]
Here is a piece I wrote a little over a year ago, sitting in a coffee shop in Beijing, recuperating after a disappointing afternoon and a tough first few weeks in China. After all the frustrations I'd come up against and the trying paths I'd trodden to get there, I hoped that maybe I had [...]
What's a girl to do the night before taking an international flight to an shiny metropolitan city she's never been to before? Other than prepare for the morning's classes, remember to water the plants, write a to-do list with a whiteboard propped on her lap... Why, dye her hair of course (and pack, packing should [...]
Tao Dance Theatre left their Beijing audience dumbfounded last Thursday evening with a performance of weight x 3 and 2 at the NCPA. Tao Dance Theatre quickly became internationally famous, but it took a little time before they gained recognition in China. So it is a big deal for Tao to be performing in China. Plus this [...]
I walked in, said ‘tailor?’ and ‘longyi’ – the women sitting on the floor looked at me in puzzlement for a few minutes. Then one stood to show me her longyi; it took a few attempts before I realised the style of her mauve longyi was in fact an improvement on the normal style – [...]
On the second night of San Francisco Ballet’s second visit to Beijing, the American ballet company treated their Chinese audience to a varied programme in four parts. Tomasson’s own Caprice opened the event, followed by Christopher Wheeldon’s Rush and Hans van Manen’s Variations for Two Couples, finally closing the evening with George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations. [...]
It's that time of year again. Yesterday was Halloween. Everybody who is anybody was (apparently) out celebrating, dressed up like idiots tonight. (I stuffed a towel up my striped t-shirt, wore a skirt over my boyfriend's jeans and stitched him a sweatband - we were Juno and Paulie, and I wasn't the only 'pregnant' costume at [...]
San Francisco Ballet returned to the stage of Beijing’s NCPA this October, during the company’s second visit to China, with Helgi Tomasson’s Giselle. Dancing Giselle was Tan Yuan Yuan, a Shanghainese ballerina who has now been performing with San Francisco Ballet for 20 years. Her return to the Chinese stage brought enthusiastic Beijingers out in hordes on [...]
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