Percy of Mystical Moves

Growing up in Kuala Lumpur, Yeoh Percy, 27, never thought that one of her biggest dreams would ever come true.

Percy, who graduated from Limkokwing University of Creative Technology with a degree in journalism, had always been interested in dancing. However, she never thought that she would end up being the professional belly dancer she is today.

Her interest in belly dancing began when her mother, Pauline, picked up the art; soon after, Percy followed in her mother’s footsteps. Percy began by taking a few informal belly dance classes with her mother for few months. “It began as a simple interest and hobby,” said Percy, who alater decided to master the Middle Eastern dance form and embark on becoming a professional belly dancer.

Within two years, this talented individual was all ready to climb to greater heights. Percy begun teaching students the art of belly dancing after graduating from university. “I got more serious after many performances and at the same time I started teaching some of my mom’s classes,” she said. As they share the same passion for belly dancing, Percy and Pauline decided to form a mother-and-daughter dancing team called Mystical Moves.

Specialising in Middle Eastern belly dancing – specifically the traditional cane dance, or “Saidi” – Percy’s passion for the art has taken her across the globe to learn about the culture and tradition of belly dancing. “After taking informal lessons for about two to three months, I started to look for more available learning avenues such as workshops,” she shared. “Many masters of the art were invited to Singapore to teach at workshops, and so I was travelling to Singapore at least two to three times in a year, staying for about four to five days each visit.”

Percy also travelled to Egypt, where belly dancing is part of the county’s culture, to see and experience authentic belly dance, and enroll in a two-week training by world-renowned dancers. “I went to Egypt just to learn more about the dance. I also wanted to know the people and the country. I saw that everyone would just stand up and start dancing when the music plays at events such as social gatherings, weddings and parties. The culture captivated me,” Percy explained.

While in Egypt, Percy attended the Nile Group/Cairo Oriental Dance Festival 2008 and was taught by experts and masters of the art, like Tito Seif, Mahmoud Khaled, Magdy El-Leisy, Yousry Shariff, Alda Nour and Lubma Emam. Percy is now a full-time professional belly dancer and instructor with more than 20 belly dance workshop and training certificates to her name. She has about 50 students training under her. She has also judged various belly dance competitions like the Belly Dance Extravaganza Competition 2010 in Penang and the Malaysian Art Dance Showcase 2011, as well as showcasing her talent as a guest performer at these events.

“The belly dance scene in Malaysia is still small, but it is growing all over the country. Many great masters of belly dancers have and are coming to Malaysia to share the art of belly dance,” she said. As she constantly thrives to craft her dancing skills to perfection, Percy’s dream is to share and spread the art of belly dance all across Malaysia. — By Kevin Tan

To find out more about Percy and Mystical Moves, log on to www.mysticalmoves.com.

Also, check out a video of Percy’s performance after the jump!