AT 57, dancer and choreographer Aman Yap has a lifetime of stories etched into his movements — tales of hardship, passion, and an unshakeable love for the stage.
This journey, one that began in the sleepy Malaysian villages of Batang Berjuntai and Selayang Baru during the 1970s, is now powerfully distilled in his acclaimed solo performance, ‘Late Love’, which he is restaging to fund his first international tour.
THE EARLY YEARS
Aman’s childhood, though relatively happy with the freedom to run ‘here and there’, was marked by poverty.
The third of four siblings, he became independent early, cooking and preparing food for his family from the tender age of eleven.
Yet, even as he toiled, the seeds of his future were sown. “I would sing and move during my cooking sessions,” he recalls in a recent interview with NST’s Groove, inspired by the Hong Kong dramas and the global phenomenon of Michael Jackson.
He was a natural performer, but his dreams were constantly shadowed by his family’s financial struggles and practicality.
After Form Five, his mother, a tough woman who was the family’s pillar and planner, steered him towards a safer path: computer studies.
“My mum wanted me to prepare to help out” at his eldest brother’s computer shop.
But Aman possessed a fierce rebellious streak.
He yearned for independence and the glamour of Kuala Lumpur, a place his mother and sister discouraged him from visiting, saying it was too dangerous and that they had ‘no money’.
Despite the discouragement, the lure of the arts was too strong. Aman eventually journeyed to KL by bus, joining the Kwang Tung Association’s dance group in Pudu, where he discovered his innate ‘feel for rhythm, movement and flow’.
He even quit his family’s laundry business to become a backup dancer in pubs, determined to earn his own money.
The major obstacle, however, remained his mother’s insistence: “Mum said no money, cannot”.
It took a scholarship to finally grant him the freedom to pursue his dreams.
At the ‘late’ age of 25, Aman was accepted into the prestigious Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts.
Getting there was an act of sheer persistence. After an initial rejection, he boldly returned to the Dean, pleading: “I told him I had no money, no family encouragement, but I want to dance. If other people didn’t want or couldn’t make it for their scholarship, then give the place to me,” he recounts.
His grit paid off, securing a place that would eventually lead to the co-founding of the Dua Space Dance Theatre.
A DANCE WITH DESTINY AND DISEASE
Aman’s journey has been a testament to his tenacity, constantly battling both external hardship and severe health crises.
He grew up unknowingly with a defective right eye, only discovering at about age nine that he had no vision in it. It was a condition he lived with, getting used to the balancing issues and relying on his good eye until he was 40.
Then, the situation became dire. The nerve was dead, the eye became inflamed, and the pain turned severe, threatening his brain.
He had to undergo surgery to remove the eye, followed later by a procedure to replace the lens in his one good eye due to cataracts.
“Because I’ve been using my one eye for so many years, before this my spectacles and contact lenses had a power of 1,000,” he explains.
More recently, his body sent him another terrifying wake-up call. The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent discovery of a liver tumour three years ago shocked him.
“Many people died during the pandemic, including some of my friends. Then I had stage two cancer but thankfully I managed to get through that,” he shares.
Though a very small tumour returned after his solo show last year, requiring another surgery, Aman remains remarkably positive, keeping fit with qigong and an enduring belief that he can still follow his passion.
THE TRIUMPH OF LATE LOVE
This profound accumulation of life experience — the poverty, the maternal loss, the battles with his health — is the emotional bedrock of ‘Late Love’.
“It’s something that I’ve been pushing back for the longest time, even though this has been one of my dreams,” he says, admitting a hint of regret for the delay.
The illness, he adds, finally made him realise, “the time has come as it’s an important milestone for me as a dancer.”
The solo show features four evocative pieces that traverse his creative landscape.
‘To You’ is a powerful tribute to his mother, who died of a stroke at 56, an expression of gratitude to the woman who was the ‘pillar of our family’.
‘Soaring’ is a message to parents to encourage their children, inspired by the scholarship that allowed him to fly. ‘Flow’ reflects the understanding that ‘life is permanently impermanent’ — a funny, poignant look at a fading celebrity.
Finally, ‘Late Love’ is about cherishing memories, bidding farewell to the past, and rediscovering his passion. “Dance has been my life so far, and now that I’m older, I still feel like I can fall in love with it once more,” he says with heartfelt warmth.
Aman Yap’s dance is the story of a man who refused to let adversity dictate his destiny. Now, he is restaging ‘Late Love’ at the Damansara Performing Arts Centre (DPAC) on Nov 4 and 5.
This fundraising performance is vital, as the proceeds will secure his first overseas tour in Beijing, China, on Nov 29 and 30, a key step in his continued global journey, which recently saw him in Japan working with both able-bodied and disabled dancers.
This is more than just a dance; it is a heartfelt confession and a powerful testament to the triumph of the human spirit.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
