- Baby, baby, baby.
Wang is here.
(upbeat music)
- Are we in the frame together?
I'm like, such a big lady.
- I know.
- You're a very petite man.
- Wang is bite sized.
- Wang is a cheesy, cheeky,
full of energy drag king.
He is a traditional kind of guy,
except that's just the joke.
Wang is really progressive, of course, being in the scene.
- Could I just get one quick sound bite for the people?
- Not today, Wang, not today.
- But just uses that kind of immigrant, traditional,
you know, retro, kind of guy feel.
- So I'm gonna give you all of the tea.
I'm gonna spill all the tea.
- Oh no. Don't do it.
This is expensive tea from Taiwan.
Wang allows for a huge weight to be lifted,
because the depth of your sorrow carves
where the joy can fill in.
You can heal through ritual and performance art.
And that's a little bit about what I bring to stage
and what has culminated in my recent project,
Sacred Wounds.
(calming background music)
- We gotta get real all right.
Let's talk a moment here.
- I think it is Black history month,
so please celebrate it all year long.
And while I'm at it,
I think that all the violence happening is just terrible.
So please support your BIPOC communities
and the Asian diaspora.
- It's a digital show, but
Sacred Wounds was co-created with Coco Ono, AKA Kayla Tange.
Who's also an exotic dancer and performance artist.
So with both of us combined
and having an interest in the healing arts,
we are able to be vulnerable and talk about emotions,
whereas perhaps the majority of the Asian culture
is trying to sweep it under the rug
or be more humble or not talk about emotions.
We are saying purest, full self expression.
The majority of the pain is no longer there,
but we acknowledge that, we've once been there.
Whatever expressed through every little vignette,
every little act, it all comes out, and
Male impersonation actually began in the Tang dynasty
and that's 618 to roughly 907 AD.
Empress Wu Zetian was the ruler at the time,
and that was rare.
It allowed for more art and more theater.
This is entertainment for the queer community,
first and foremost, and then we're being inclusive.
So to me,
I am a part of the new dynasty.
It's the Wang dynasty.
To me, being queer and Asian is an experience unto itself.
What you have is the commonality
and the awareness that when you go back to the motherland,
they immediately know you're not from Asia.
They know you're American,
for the most part. It's in the way we walk,
it's in our posture, it's in our movement.
And then we open our mouths.
We're too loud,
too arrogant, too bold.
But when we are here in America,
it also feels like people think we're immigrants.
We are still products of our heritage
and parents that want us to be doctors,
and engineers, and lawyers.
Artistry and art is not what the majority hopes for,
but here we are following our heart,
following our own truth.
And we hopefully have reconciled the chip on our shoulder.
It's not a (beep), it's a (beep), like
I definitely lived in a lot of shame and guilt,
upon discovering my sexuality,
and Wang allowed me to express
a gut feeling that was so strong
that to this day, I can't deny.
My heart, my spirit really needed Wang,
to give permission to be my truest self.
And that's what drag has available
for some people is pure self expression.
- One of the biggest seeds that stayed with me till now,
is that when I was 19 and in college
I actually helped create an Asian American nonprofit.
And we had George Takei, Mr. Sulu himself, come speak.
And I having just been a Cambodian Khmer Rouge soldier
as an extra, I was supposed to be a village woman.
And then they put this 12 gauge gun in my hand.
So I asked George, do you have any tips on being an extra?
He looks at me and he says,
And I think that that is one of the greatest impacts
that he gifted me.
My purpose right now is to be unapologetically me,
because I've been hiding it for so long.
I'm a bit older than I look, I think.
And I just feel that is my purpose to,
own up to being a mid elder.
What we're missing is a connection
to the wisdom of our elders,
the wisdom of our ancestors.
Being a mid elder is probably where I am
to share my wisdom as well as being a bridge
to other countries, other cultures, and other generations.
♪ What is love? ♪
♪ Baby don't hurt me. ♪
♪ Don't hurt me no more. ♪
♪ Da da da da. ♪