Bonnie Chai

BA (Hons) Costume for Performance

Motivated and responsible, looking to expand costume making and design skills and hands on experience. I have taken on several work experiences during my time at the university, including at the Royal Opera House, the Young Vic, the London 2012 Olympics as well as smaller productions and student productions. I thoroughly enjoy costume construction and am keen on learning more! From a multicultural background, having lived in several countries, I have had the benefit of getting to know people from a myriad of different backgrounds and I treasure every opportunity I have to meet new people and to travel. Cultural links and barriers is something that has always interested me, something I have taken forward to use as the inspiration for my third year final major project. Final major project: "Progression" - short contemporary dance film Especially with all the current media hype surrounding immigration and whether it’s good or bad, I feel that sometimes people take it for granted and see people more like inanimate objects that are trying to invade their space rather than people who feel and think. That these people are faced with such difficulties and barriers, like preconceived notions, and they are working hard to overcome this. If you could imagine, being placed in a country where the native language is not your own, or the culture is wholly different from where you used to live. Having to spend everyday trying to get used to a new lifestyle, a new town, trying to communicate effectively without being discriminated against, and most of all, be accepted by the people around you – who sometimes seem, just because you are who you are, to be against you. Even if you may look British in facial appearance, oftentimes it is still telling that you are foreign by the way you dress, or how you walk, or how you hold yourself, or how you act towards others. It is unfortunate that in such a diverse city as London some people do still tend to discriminate and this makes it very difficult for a foreigner to feel at home in such an environment. Using the dancer’s own story of her move from Jordan to London, costumes were made to highlight emotions felt when moving to another place. First, the “barrier” stage – cultural, language barriers and other difficulties; and the “freedom” stage – overcoming these barriers and becoming more independent – realising how liberal London is compared to her conservative hometown. This was made into a short contemporary dance film. The final stage, "integration"– falling into a rhythm, a cog in the machine, just wanting to get on with everyday life like a local – was not included in the film. Working on dance, I had to consider the best interests of the performer - how I had to make everything comfortable for the performer so the performer only had to worry about the dance, maximum movement and ways to enhance the performance through costume. It also gave me the opportunity to experiment with shapes, light and movement, something I tried to bring out in the costumes - costumes that move with the dancer, emphasising the choreography and adding to the performance.