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SINGAPORE: A lone woman dances suggestively in the smoky bar.
The strobe lights punctuate her every sensuous movement with a flash, her lithe form moving to the beat of "Buttons" by the Pussycat Dolls.
She works the pole like a pro, twirling, gyrating and giving one lucky patron a comely smile.
If you were there, you'd be forgiven for thinking you had stumbled onto the set of some adult film, but the bar is actually where the production crew is shooting a scene in upcoming MediaCorp drama "Breakout", where Jeanette Aw's character Yang Nianqing releases the wild child within and pole dances.
The director calls for a break and the media photographers get busy, shooting Aw, 31, in various poses on the stage.
A member of the production crew approaches a few gawking extras, who had hastily whipped out their phones to film Aw on stage, to stop.
As the camera flashes died down, the actress, dressed in a white blouse, a micro miniskirt and stockings, stepped off the stage in her killer heels and her assistant rushes forward to offer her a tissue for the sweat that had accumulated on her brow.
Pole dancing is indeed hard work.
She then strode to the corner of the darkened room and shared her thoughts with the crowd of reporters that gathered.
"This is nothing," said Aw about her dressing for the pole dancing scene. "When I danced during my university days, I wore even more revealing costumes! Bikini top, this kind of stuff!" she declared.
Aw revealed that she was a little disappointed by the size of the stage.
"There are space constraints ... I was doing the very, very basic swings.
"I felt that I learnt so much but couldn't show it," she said, before revealing that she had taken pole dancing classes, each lasting about one to two hours to prepare for the scene.
"Actually, the pole here is unstable and I can't control it. It's loose and I turn too much but I got used to it. Most importantly, I didn't fall down," she added with a laugh.
The tiny stage isn't what Aw is used to and prevented her from performing the more advanced moves, but it may be a blessing in disguise.
"The director didn't want me to look too professional. He needs me to be a bit more 'freestyle', like a bar patron that got carried away," said Aw, explaining that her character is not a professional pole dancer but actually suffers from multiple personality disorder.
She uses liquor, medication and pole dancing in the bar as a means to 'escape' her insomnia, depression as well as paranoia.
Yang Nianqing is definitely quite a character.
Aw agrees.
"Sometimes, I would suddenly think of a scene (in "Breakout") and go into that mood ... sort of like mood swings," said the actress, before hastily assuring us that she isn't going off the deep end.
"I can still manage myself. I am still aware of when I am like that," said the actress with a smile.
- CNA
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