Wushu at the Beauty Pageant

by Jayneen Lee

"I am delighted to announce that you have been selected by the Applications Committee to be a contestant for the 21st Annual Miss Asian America Pageant," the letter read. According to the letter, the pageant only accepts twenty contestants nationwide to participate. I started going through the packet, realizing everything that had to be completed within a week or two.

My heart skipped a beat when I noticed that I had to submit a 2-minute demo of my talent. I didn't anticipate submitting a demo so soon and I had little time to prepare. Not to mention, I hadn't been actively practicing wushu since I was in high school. I started at O-Mei Kung Fu when I was around 16 and trained diligently until I hit college. After that, my passion for Kung Fu started fluctuating. I would attend the UCD Kung Fu Club here and there, but I never stuck with my routine practices.

After networking with old Kung Fu classmates, I finally came across someone that could help me. I got off the phone with Eric Jacobus, one of the founders of the Stunt People, a stunt team located in the San Francisco Bay Area that makes Martial Arts films. After working with their stunt team, we were able to put together a funny fight scene segment for the video.

The pageant committee was swept away by the scene and I was quickly admitted into the talent portion of the show. I spent the rest of my time researching for a new instructor to put together a wushu demonstration. My goal was to act out a small scene about a girl who practices wushu, gets hit on by a pesky bystander, and enters a fight scene.

I quickly enrolled in 10 private classes at my old school, O-Mei with Sifu Ding Wei. We put together a choreographed sequence of three weapons - broadsword, spear, and chain whip - to be followed by the fight scene. I never realized how difficult it was to get back into something that I had previously worked so hard at. It was also hard to pick up a new weapon, chain whip, in less than a month before the show.

So how have I been holding up as a Kung Fu fighting beauty pageant contestant? It's been quite awkward juggling two contrasting activities. When I step into the Kung Fu studio, I'm a totally different person. I concentrate on training and working as physically hard as possible. I try not to notice the pain and I guess you can say I start acting "tough." Once I step foot into rehearsal, I'm graceful and girly. I don't do anything physically overwhelming and we have escorts to do little tedious tasks such as carrying our bags, moving our chairs, and serving us food. We practice our introductions, work on our platform speeches, and make public appearances. Most recently, we participated in the Asian Perinatal Advocates Fundraising Fashion show in ethnic Vietnamese Ao Dais.

This pageant has really opened my eyes to a lot of things. I've realized how much my friends and family support me through helping me find sponsors and spending the hefty $35 to see me compete. I've also met incredible, intelligent women who are beautiful in every aspect. Without a doubt, these women are future leaders of the Asian American community. The pageant staff has also been inspiring ? helping us get through each rehearsal, teaching us communication skills, and diversifying us to new experiences and lessons. And last of all, I've rekindled my passion for wushu. I hope to continue practicing after the pageant and now that I've had a jump start, I won't be afraid to step into kung fu practice feeling intimidated. Whether or not I win or lose, I still know that I will come out of this experience as a winner with everything I have gained.

Right now, it's less than two weeks before the pageant and I'm still trying to put in the finishing touches on my talent act. I've been going to 24 hour fitness and practicing in the group exercise room. Everyone walks by and gives me weird glances, but I just shrug it off. (Who signs up for a membership just to practice wushu at odd hours of the day?) At the same time, I've been memorizing my platform speech, getting all of my outfits together, making gifts for the other contestants, reading up on the news, and practicing interview questions.

I'm under a lot of pressure - I have about 40 friends and family attending the pageant and it's the first time that any of them have seen me perform. I hope that I can pull through with this remaining week and get everything done! Unfortunately, I still don't know what to do about all the bruises and cuts I've had from training. I'm not sure if make-up will be able to cover it all up . . .

ENTER THE PAGEANT
Pageant week was crazy! Every morning we woke up around 7 AM to start our day with rehearsal. Rehearsals were followed by public appearances, more rehearsal, public appearances, and more rehearsal. Need I say any more?

On the first night, Tuesday, August 1st, we were assigned our contestant numbers. Lo and behold, I was Contestant #1. This meant that I'd have to be first for literally almost everything. Contestants would be following my dance movements in the opening act and I'd lead for the swimwear and evening gown. It felt exciting to be the first to step on stage, but it also added a lot more pressure.

Throughout the first two days, I felt like I still needed to practice my talent. I kept asking the Pageant Director when we'd have time set aside to practice. I initially thought that I'd be able to practice after our last event ended at 1 AM, but I'd end up so exhausted that I'd just want to go to bed.

Eventually, I found out that only ten out of twenty contestants were selected to perform a talent. Of the ten, three were playing the piano, three were singing, three were dancing, and one was doing kung fu. I felt a bit at ease that I was going to be the only martial artist. On Thursday, we were able to finally practice our talents. I was a bit nervous because it would be the first time that any of the contestants and pageant staff would see me perform.

As I started stretching and taking out my weapons, girls were already excited to see my act. I began with my broadsword, spear, and then ended with my chain whip. During the chain whip portion, I kept messing up on the butt jump - where you're sitting on the floor and the chain glides under you. This was the section of my form that I was having particular difficulties. After a few tries, I moved on. I went through the fight scene solo and everyone cracked up imagining what it would be like with another person present.

At the end of my performance, my heart was racing. Did they think I was any good or did I look like a total amateur?

The girls all clapped and applauded my performance. Some contestants approached me to tell me how much they loved my act and one even commented that we didn't need escorts to follow us around because I could be their bodyguards. I felt more reassured, but I still kept worrying about that butt jump.

The week progressed and I didn't have anymore time to practice -either I knew it or I didn't. We had our judges' interview on Friday and eventually pageant day came on Saturday. We were finally able to check out the space on the stage - it was HUGE! I looked into the audience and pictured how it would be like with a full house. The floor was rock solid and I already knew I'd have problems falling onto it and sliding into the splits.

I was allowed to practice twice on the stage before I went into hair and makeup so that they could get the music and lighting right. I started the form and felt completely exhausted by the time I got to the spear section. After four nights of less than 5 hours of sleep, I was too drained to do anything. After the music ended, I knew I had to pick up the pace if I really wanted to "wow" anyone that night. The stage manager asked me to go through it a second time. I started with the broadsword and completely blanked out.

"Wait!" I shouted, "Can we start the music again?" The music started again and then it hit me, I couldn't do it a second time. I was too physically and emotionally exhausted. I guess the stage manager noticed what a horrible time I had keeping up with the music and asked me if I was too tired. I nodded my head and walked off the stage, discouraged. Staff members on the side were saying I did well, but I just shrugged it off because I knew the second run through was the sloppiest thing I've ever done.

I rushed into getting my hair and makeup done and before I knew it, it was time for the show to start. We did our opening number and our introductions in our ethnic gown followed by our bathing suit and our evening gown. As I was in the backroom stretching out before the talent segment, I started to panic. This was the only time I had the stage all to myself and the only chance I had to make an impression on the judges to be picked as "Miss Talent."

My stuntman, Eric, met me backstage and tried to relax me. The lights were off as I got onto the stage and they slowly turned on as I stood in my starting position. The music began and I could hear my friends in the audience cheering. Adrenaline seemed to rush through me and I hit the movements as sharp as possible. My knees burned as I did a jump-inside splits. I tried to go lower, but I just couldn't slide on that surface. Then, the chain whip came, I did the windup for the buttjump, and I MISSED! I got up as quickly as possible so that no one would notice and proceeded into the fight scene.

The crowd roared as I started fighting. I totally forgot about the mistake I made and stayed energetic. At the end of the performance, I felt an overwhelming feeling of happiness. I did the best that I could and I was ready to move on to the rest of the show. As I ran to the dressing room to get back into my evening gown, I could hear the MC in the background talking about how amazing my performance was.

Now it was time to announce the top ten finalists, the time that I had been waiting for these past three months of practice. They started announcing the contestant numbers. "#1! #1!" I kept repeating in my head. As they got down to the final contestant, I crossed my fingers and closed my eyes. They announced the last finalist and the contestant number echoed throughout the room. It was hard for me to keep smiling as I found out they didn't pick me.

I was escorted off stage and sat on the side of the stage contemplating the evening. "Why wasn't I picked?" I kept asking myself over and over. "Was there anything that I could've done better?" I know that I put all of my time and energy into this pageant.

After the finalists were done with their platform speeches and their poise and personality questions, we were escorted back onto stage for the crowning. Even though I didn't make it to the top ten, I was still able to get "Miss Talent". I knew I had a good shot, because my talent was one of a kind.

But, as it turns out, Miss Talent was awarded to another contestant who sang opera, and who ended up also being crowned as the Queen. Maybe the crowd just wasn't ready for wushu? Perhaps the judges wanted something more contemporary and more elegant - who knows?

"What a bummer," I kept saying to myself, but I wasn't sad. I thought that I'd get emotional, but in the end, I realized that it didn't matter. I know that in my heart, I did the best that I could, and even though I wasn't given an official title, I know that I'll always be the Miss Asian America in all of my friends and family's hearts.

As I mentioned before, this experience was rekindled my passion for martial arts and encouraged me to train harder than I have in the past. This competition hasn't affected my outlook on martial arts, except in a positive way. I think the Martial Arts is an AMAZING talent that not every female will take the chance to learn and/or perform. It's always going to be a hobby of mines and I'm going to continue training as long as physically possible.

One of my favorite quotes has always been, "Quitters never win and winners never quit.". . . Perhaps it's time to start researching on entering another pageant? ;)

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About Jayneen Lee:
To see more of Jayneen, see her MySpace site at http://www.myspace.com/jayneenmodel
For more on the Miss Asian America Pageant, see http://www.missasianamerica.com
Jayneen Lee's 2006 Miss Asian America Pageant bid is supported by the Tiger Claw Foundation. See http://www.tigerclawfoundation.org