“You should see your superpower”. And rightfully so, with Singapore-based Documentarian and experimental dance filmmaker Chan Sze-Wei, revealing the sparkles, colours and ostrich feathers of the ballroom culture through the lives of three groundbreaking figures in the ballroom scenes of Southeast Asia, with an intimate and truthful look at how underground art defies borders.
10s Across the Borders is screening at Cinemasia
At first, it was dark, moody, nondescript. A featureless stairwell kickstarts the movie, but then a colourful character brightens the screen, all bowl cut, tattooed face and fierceness overloaded. This is our introduction to Teddy Ong, an aspiring ballroom voguing dancer from Malaysia, who is also the founder of the “kiki” (amateur) house of Neverland and one of three trailblazers taking us along on an exposé of ballroom culture together with Filipino, Xyza Ragunjan, of the house Mizrahi and Phittaya Phaefuang (Sun), an exuberant and artistically joyful Thai performer.
Their stories are vastly different, yet pockets of moments in their lives intercut to form a fluid, sweetly relatable narrative. The spotlight first falls on Xyra, the founding mother of the ballroom house Mizrahi, who is trying to bridge the gap for a cis-straight woman in the often LGBTQ-centric world of Ballroom. Then there is Teddy, who struggles to find a voice and identity after bad childhood experiences dealing with a society that often shuns homosexuality in his native Malaysia. And completing the trio is the fey-like energiser bunny Sun, who brings the heart and soul of Thai spirituality and tradition to the mix.
Throughout the journey, we are treated to gratuitous showmanship of splits, drops, duck walks and spins of the underground queer art. Chan Sze-Wei’s globe-trotting dance-documentary is not only informative but a polarising feast for the senses that is unapologetically in-your-face; you either like it or are convinced to turn it off. On this ride through sometimes smoky, grainy, casual clubby filters, caution is thrown to the wind with an almost invasive (like when Sun takes a shower, derrière shown and all) investigation into the lives of our three protagonists.
The movie flits between moments of triumph, joy, sentimentality, and sheer honesty. With its lean 90 minutes, this act of love shot over seven years successfully frames these queer folks and their art to an accessible and enjoyable portrayal that grows on the audience as it explains the troubles that rock the community, who are very much longing to be seen, heard, and understood.
Part experimental dance showcase, part societal thought piece and part exposé of a less understood aspect of the nightlife/club culture, “10s Across the Borders” is an entertaining and interesting film that should be essential viewing for an introduction to queer art and alternative lifestyles.
