He belongs to a rare breed of dancers, the kind unheard of locally. Meet Hilton, male belly dancer.

Yeoh Chee Hang walks on stage and the audience stares in bewilderment. the music begins and he gyrates his hips, oozing sensuality. there are whispers all around. when he shimmies his shoulders and ?flutters? his belly, the females start to shriek.

A few whirling dervish-like moves is all it takes for the crowd to go wild.

Hilton Yeoh.

?Hilton! Hilton! we want more!? they roar, when the performance ends.

Fired up by the enthusiastic response, Yeoh, who goes by the moniker Hilton, agrees to do another dance. This time, the audience whips out their cameras, ready to record it for posterity.

In a field dominated by women, Hilton is probably the only male belly dancer in the country, and boy, is he making his presence felt.

We are at the 1 Nation Fitness Camp 2010 in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, where he is giving a demonstration. He can match his female counterparts in most aspects but where Hilton sometimes lacks in fluidity, he makes up with his personality. And no one can believe he is only 20!

?Are you Thai or Malay?? someone asks after the performance.

?Neither. Chan mai pen kun Thai (I?m not Thai). Saya Cinak. Seratus peratus Cinak. (I?m Chinese. 100% Chinese). Malaysian-Chinese!? he answers, as we break out in laughter.

A centuries-old Egyptian tradition, male belly dancing is making a comeback in Egypt against the odds, against periodic suppression by government and religious officials. In Istanbul and other Middle Eastern capitals, it?s common for nightclubs to feature young, handsome male belly dancers called rakkas (from the word raks, which means dance).

Some of the most talented and renowned teachers and choreographers are men. but in this region, they are almost unheard of.

?It?s been a struggle,? admits Yeoh when we meet again a few days later.

For male belly dancers, the attire comprises a harem pants gathered at the ankle. Men usually perform topless but Hilton says he prefers wearing a vest.

?No one wants to teach a man belly dancing, so everything I know has been self-taught, with pointers picked up from YouTube, videos and books. I?ve never taken formal classes and never had the finances to take workshops overseas.?

Sporting a Goth look, he has on huge earrings (he wants to increase the size of his earlobe hole to 15mm!) and has a huge tattoo running down his left arm. Passers-by gawk at us. Gone are the feminine qualities displayed on stage. In their place is a regular boy with a manly voice. For the record, he points out, Hilton was the nickname his late grandfather gave him. It?s not something he conjured up for the stage.

?I believe I?m on par with the women. the men are more muscular but women are more flexible. I think I have all the technical aspects mastered, so now I practise my facial expressions to improve my showmanship during performances,? says Yeoh.

He dances to all kinds of music, in all languages and does not restrict himself to any particular genre.

?When I listen to a song and I?m on stage, I might cry when interpreting its meaning. I make sure I translate all the meanings so I know exactly what I?m dancing to. I can be very emotional.?

Yeoh once hurt his back and couldn?t walk for two weeks.

He brushes it off saying, ?That?s what happens when you learn from the Internet and no one tells you the proper technique to do the movement.?

Five years ago, Yeoh was an overweight teenager with a love for food and an aversion to exercise. With a cook for a mother, he and his three older sisters were overweight. there was always good food in the house. Weighing over 100kg, he was the butt of jokes. From being called ?fat butt? and ?little pig? to sei fei chai (bloody fat boy), Yeoh learnt to turn a deaf ear to all the taunts.

?You wouldn?t believe it, but I refused to participate in Pendidikan Jasmani classes throughout school. I?d been fat since I was small. I hated sports and after a while, the teachers gave up on me,? he reveals.

Hilton Yeoh (L) with some friends.

Yeoh would sit under a tree and watch his classmates sweat it out. His mum even fixed a basketball ring in the house to encourage him to exercise but chubby Yeoh was unmoved.

However, out of the blue, he decided one day that he wanted to slim down. This was just before his Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) exams.

?I can?t remember how it happened but I just decided I had to do something about my weight. I walked into a store and purchased an aerobic DVD because doing aerobics is the fastest way to lose weight. I attempted it but halfway through I became breathless and realised it was too intense for me,? he recalls.

Much later, while shopping at Jusco, Yeoh came across a belly dancing instructional DVD. it looked interesting, and he thought, why not give exercise another shot? He bought it, tried it and discovered he liked it.

?My exams were just around the corner but I kept playing the DVD over and over again to master the moves. I would practise in the living room and all my sisters would sit around to watch me but I couldn?t convince them to join me.?

Slowly, the fat melted away. Alas, after his PMR, Yeoh stopped watching the DVD and got addicted to online games. Form Four being the ?honeymoon? year, he took things easy.

?I was hooked and every time I played online games I nibbled on biscuits. I grew really fat again and all the kilos I had lost quickly came back. it was a terrible time and I knew I had to do something,? says the 1.8m lad.

When he got to Form five, he rummaged through his bookshelf, wiped the dust off his trusty DVD and started belly dancing again. Everyday, he allocated four to five hours to dancing. He also cut back on fatty food and drank green tea. He lost more than 20kg in a few months.

A National Service stint helped reduce his weight further and today, he tries to keep his weight at 75kg.

After he finished schooling, Yeoh worked as a retail assistant, selling things like garments, knives and handbags to help his family out financially. along the way, he learnt how to deal with customers and life?s setbacks.

?My dad passed away when I was five so my mum raised us single-handedly. My sisters and I decided my mum should stop work when she turns 49. we would support each other. If one of us studies, the other works. two of my sisters have graduated while I enrolled in college this year,? says Yeoh, who is studying marketing.

Since he had been quietly honing his belly dancing skills, Yeoh called up a female belly dancing troop one day and asked if he could perform with them to make some money. Initially, the troop leader was shocked because no man had ever approached her. but when the group saw Yeoh perform, they agreed to hire him.

Left: Hilton in a class photo (top row, fifth from left).

For their shows, the troop would do tribal fusion belly dance, incorporating elements of hip hop, breakdance, cabaret and other traditional dance forms. no one mentored him or showed him the technical aspects but Yeoh watched, learnt and used the mirror to correct himself.

Last year, a friend told Yeoh about the Asia Pacific Belly Dance Competition in Taiwan. He raked his savings together and made his first overseas trip there, entering in the professional solo category.

Although the competition was not restricted to females, all the competitors were female. Yeoh didn?t win the top prize but he did walk away with the Best Performer award. He was thrilled.

?Before that, I took part in a small competition in Klang and won first prize, but Taiwan was a great achievement for me. I had to do everything myself, from getting the clothes to putting on the make-up. I had never stepped outside of Malaysia before!? he says.

The enterprising youngster designs and sews parts of his costumes. For example, he bought a white tablecloth, cut the edges into long fringes and sewed the sides using dental floss. when he turns, the skirt swirls with his every movement, and lends him an air of grace.

From young, Hilton developed an affinity towards Gothic-inspired dark and morbid clothing. Hence, most of his outfits are black.

Male belly dancers usually wear only harem pants that are gathered at the ankle, but Yeoh says he prefers wearing a vest to dancing topless.

?I don?t have a great body. I?d like to build a six-pack, but I?m too lazy to work at it. I?d rather be playing Pokemon in my free time,? he admits.

Thankfully, Yeoh?s family is supportive of his passion for belly dancing. Some friends snigger at him.

?Any decision that I make, I have to bear the consequences ? that?s my mum?s advice. Of course, now they tell me it?s boring to watch me! I don?t think I can go far with a belly dance career so my main priority now is get a degree. then I?ll think of what to do for my future. In the meantime, I perform as and when there?s a request.?

■ To contact Yeoh Chee Hang/Hilton, e-mail: wickedharem_tribal@hotmail.com or call MBS Studios at 012-330 2883.

Belly good boy

Tags: enthusiastic response, fitness camp, fluidity, moniker, sensuality

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 26th, 2010 at 7:45 pm and is filed under Pen Friend Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.