Ngoc Bay + Hat Boi

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Just wanted to post this article on up about Ngoc Bay who's trying to bring it on back.

The beginner's class in the heart of Southern California's Little Saigon is a far cry from the theaters in Vietnam where a youthful Bay once crooned to the adoration of her fans. But it is inside this windowless room where she has embarked on a mission: revive an esoteric artform that animated her but is in danger of dying.

The poised choreography of Hat Boi (HACK-boyh) has lost favor in her homeland and failed to take root among the immigrants here in the largest Vietnamese enclave in the United States. Bay hopes to pass on the tradition to her students or at least give them a love for an art she learned to cherish as a girl.

"I hope they can become good like me, before I pass away," Bay says, chuckling. "Here, nobody knows about Hat Boi. They like Western music."
Read it in full here.