[Rachel Blundy | South China Morning Post]
“When I’m dancing, it feels like flying… It feels so right to do something that everyone says is wrong. But you know it’s healthy.”
Four years ago, Leon Yee says he was a fat, introverted, video-gaming teenager who was training to be a chef.
Now 23 years old and standing more than six foot tall in a pair of skyscraper heels, he works as a professional pole dancer in Hong Kong and is brimming with confidence.
“When I’m dancing, it feels like flying,” he says. “It feels so right to do something that everyone says is wrong. But you know it’s healthy.”
“Four years ago, I wasn’t like myself today. I was a typical Hong Kong teen. I would stay at home playing video games, eat junk food – I really didn’t care about anything. I just shut myself out and I would doubt myself. I thought I was just another fat gay kid. When I picked up pole dancing, I thought maybe this was my moment for personal growth.”
Yee, who was born in Hong Kong but undertook part of his schooling in Vancouver, Canada, was introduced to pole dancing by a classmate at his cooking school. And after taking classes with Melody Rose, a two time Hong Kong pole dancing champion, he abandoned his culinary career and started training to become a teacher of the craft.
“When I saw the teachers I was blown away. I was not expecting what I saw,” he says.