We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Timmy Ong a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Timmy, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
It is hard to pick one, because I am fortunate as an artist to have worked on many projects that are not just commercial but also meaningful. However, one of the most meaningful projects I have worked on would have to be a Lunar New Year series of performances with Dance China New York. It is meaningful in so many ways!
To begin with, they are the first dance company I have ever been a resident member of. As a dancer, I have always freelanced, because from what I understand of the dance world, my body type does not necessarily fit into conventional dance companies. I have largely accepted this fact. However, I always wondered what it would feel like to be in a dance company. And this company made my dream come true! It took me 10 years to become a company dancer, but I am glad it actually happened.
What’s more, I did not have to really audition for the company. That is not to say that the company is not competitive or professional. On the contrary, the company is highly selective, because we run on a tight crew of eight resident dancers, with many freelance part-timers. I was referred to the artistic director by an existing resident dancer who worked with me on a project outside of the company. She thought that I might be a good fit. I was not sure, but I stayed open-minded and sent my portfolio to the artistic director anyway. To my surprise, instead of scheduling an audition, she scheduled an interview. I thought perhaps she wanted to talk to me first as a sort of “pre-screening” before asking for more, but a few days after the interview, I was offered a position! I guess she really liked what she saw in my portfolio, or could see versatility from my work. Either way, I am glad my 10 years of work experience spoke for itself!
Being in this company was also meaningful because I was provided a safe environment not just to contribute my skills, but also cross-apply them amid learning new skills. The company primarily performs Chinese dance, ranging from very classical techniques to modern fusion styles. Although I was exposed to Chinese dance in my years of work, being Chinese-Malaysian, my foundation in dance lies first in traditional Malay dance, and next in ballet and contemporary styles. However, the company gave me full trust to find my entry into more classical Chinese styles by cross-applying my technique. I was even able to apply my puppeteering skills learning lion dance! There was no sense of competition; everyone wanted everyone else to succeed. That was such a warm, heartful place to be in. Additionally, they even had me choreograph and perform a Malay dance for an AAPI event whose organizers asked for something different!
Lastly, and I dare say most importantly, working with the company was incredibly meaningful because I got to openly be myself and share my culture. As an Asian person working in the US, sometimes it feels like, as a minority, I have to “put aside” my culture to fit in and perform what the majority culture wants to see. But working with this company allowed me to really stand firm in my identity, and present myself in my full self with no need for compartmentalization. In fact, I got deeper in touch with my roots: within the company, sometimes we communicated in Mandarin more than we did English!
In conjunction with Lunar New Year, the company performs not just in museums, malls, and big public spaces like train halls, but also in schools and community centers. It felt amazing to proudly present Chinese and Malay dances–instead of the usual “Western styles” of dance–to different demographics of the American public. Furthermore, depending on the program, sometimes between pieces, we taught our audiences how to say simple Chinese phrases like “How are you?” “Bravo!” and “Thank you.” Doing that in schools was honestly rather moving, because the kids usually repeated back the phrases with full enthusiasm, no hesitation, and no concerns with whether they were getting the sounds and tones correctly. To see American youth so openly embrace a language and culture that they might not have been exposed to, it gives me so much joy, so much hope for the world, and so much pride to be Asian.
In short, working on a project with and being a part of Dance China New York has been very meaningful to me, because they gave me my dream come true of being in a dance company, they gave me a safe space to express and upskill myself, and they gave me a platform to share my culture–both specifically my Chinese side and more broadly my Malaysian side.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am primarily a performer: actor, singer, musician, and dancer. Beyond that, I am also a theater-maker: writer, composer, choreographer, puppet maker and puppeteer, and sometimes director. Overall, I would consider myself a theater artist. I am from Malaysia, but currently based in New York City.
My journey in the performing arts began in music. I played the piano as a teenager, before discovering the cello in college, playing it much better than I ever did the piano. When I realized strings came to me much more easily than the piano, I also picked up the guitar and pipa. I also started acting seriously in college, which led me to dance, with the goal of becoming a well-rounded performer.
About four months after college, I booked my first job, a Malaysian homegrown musical that toured within Peninsular Malaysia, and have not really stopped since! I have performed across the board, from theater to musical theater, opera, concerts as a guest singer, orchestral concerts as a cellist, and even on TV as a contestant in a host search reality show, which began my transition into screen work. I have performed in multiple languages, from English to Malay, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Hakka. Six, almost seven years later, I was incredibly burnt out, so I decided to go back to school. I got my MFA from The New School, fell in love with New York City, and stayed to expand my career.
As a performer, I enjoy doing new works. Some notable originating roles that I am proud of include Lamont in “Mr. Holland’s Opus, A New Musical”, in which I got to act, sing, dance, and play cello; Procopio in “The Sacrifice of Cassamba Becker”, a Brazilian play that premiered in English in New York and gave me my Off-Broadway debut, and in which I got act, sing, and play guitar and cello; Josh Cagan in “The Retreat”, a Malaysian homegrown whodunnit play, in which I got to work on stage combat and weapons; Yuan Fan-Shen in “Dress In Code”, a Taiwanese play that premiered in English in New York, and in which I got to literally let my hair down and put on a beautiful dress and heels; and Harriet in “Isabel”, a new play that is getting its Off-Broadway transfer soon!
As a theater maker, I write and create theatrically under the Green-Eyed Monster Project. We create a range of work, from conventional plays to site-specific theater. Some noteworthy commissioned work include “Second Chances”, a two-hander one-act play; “The Girl Who Is Not Depressed”, a spoken-word site-specific theater set in a dressing room; “This Is All I Have”, a site-specific movement theater piece set in a microhouse; and “Soul Food”, a site-specific multi-disciplinary surrealist theater set in a cafe. My most recent commission was from A.R.T/New York Theatres in conjunction with their 50th anniversary celebration. I created two distinct pieces of site-specific theater for them. One was a compilation of well-known scenes in theater and musical theater, exploring how many ways I could transform a space. The other one is about an alien pig-esque creature passing through Earth; it involved a puppet, which I built in collaboration with another puppeteer.
My upcoming project is an immersive production with the Museum of Chinese in America (MoCA) sharing stories of the New York Chinatown from the 1980s and 1990s. I have some teaching experience, but with my MFA and almost 11 years of work experience, I am venturing deeper into teaching. I will be teaching Chinese and Malay dances in the New York public school system, with the goal of getting to know the US education system before eventually moving into teaching at a collegiate level.
I am always open to meeting other theater makers for collaboration, especially in devised and site-specific work!
Have you ever had to pivot?
As an artist, pivoting is but only part of the job! It is an essential part of the career, so there are many stories of pivoting. My teenage self fully thought that I was going to be a pianist, and maybe a pop star. But as I got older, learned more about music, discovered the cello, and picked up the guitar and pipa, my goals and ambitions naturally shifted. Getting serious about theater, learning dance, and then tying all the disciplines together when I ventured into musical theater–all these experiences were organic pivot points that came with my personal and artistic growth.
To me, pivoting does not mean totally leaving something behind. I wanted to be a singer-songwriter, a concert cellist, a hardcore theater actor, a ballet dancer, musical theater actor, and then an overall actor working across stage and screen. Each one might have felt like a change in direction, but they are actually all interconnected! I still want to do all these things–and I think I am doing all of them to various degrees–because they really do not have to be mutually exclusive! In addition to the natural growth of my career and professional aspirations, as I got to know myself better, I also became a writer, director, choreographer and even puppet maker, because I realized that I have been writing, drawing, making up stories, and getting crafty for as long as I could remember–why should I stop now? Somewhere along my career, I had to be a producer pitching and championing my own work too. These are all pivot points, and every pivot expanded my mind, and only made me a more well-rounded artist.
Having said that, the biggest pivot in my life would have to be my big move from Malaysia to New York City. It was quite a scary feeling because I had never lived so far away from home before, and while I saw the change as yet another expansion of my horizons, I also understood that moving to a new city meant that there was a level of restarting and rebuilding of my life and career that I was not sure if I was ready for. However, many aspects of my life in Malaysia were coming to a natural close, or rather, a page turn. For example, I was done with a long-time work contract, and my car was finally getting fully paid off. Priorities in my life were organically shifting, and I was also looking to get further education in my field after working non-stop for so long.
Therefore, when I got accepted into three schools, one in London and two in New York City, I knew I had to take the leap. And it was hard: going back to school full-time and thus no longer having an income while living in a new country; finding my footing in a foreign land with practically no financial and emotional support, and through a pandemic no less; and restarting that “grind” to build my career again. But I am glad I did it, because five years later, I have grown so much that I feel like a brand new person! And I am glad, too, that I chose New York. It has taken my career to places that I never thought it could go. New York City offers me everything that I am looking for as an artist, from independent theater where I get to make my own work collaborating with talented international artists that inspire me, to commercial shows in which I get to be a committed actor working alongside some of the best talents in the world. All things considered, it is a rather successful pivot in my eyes!
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The storytelling, for sure. I enjoy exploring different ways to tell stories. Moreover, I love crossing and combining different methods and artforms to find the “perfect” way to convey a story. Perfection does not really exist, at least not in this context, but figuring out what works, i.e. finding the “right” group of people to do all the “right” things and to do them “right” for the “right” audience, telling a strong story in an effective and efficient way–that is really, really satisfying for me. When people walk away thinking about what they have experienced–not just the audience thinking about what they received, but also my fellow collaborators and myself thinking about what we gave and in turn received from the audience–I feel very, very rewarded. Show business is a people business after all; so when people get connected through stories, it feels very rewarding!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.timmyong.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timmy_ong/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmilWNQmarwNcP3-417IYNA
- Other: Actor Access: https://resumes.actorsaccess.com/timmyong
Image Credits
Bronwen Sharp (The Sacrifice of Cassamba Becker), Nathaniel Johnston (Dress In Code), Nile Scott Studios (Mr. Holland’s Opus), Steven Pisano (The Healing Shipment)