Som-O, now 47, first visited Hua Hin around 20 years ago on holiday from Bangkok, invited by a group of older ladies, dance students who had holiday homes locally. Som-O was immediately attracted to the lifestyle Hua Hin offers its residents. She found it has a calmness and a closeness to the natural environment that is wanting in Bangkok, being appreciative of the moon and the stars which are blocked by the bright lights and tall buildings of the nation’s capital. Yet despite Hua Hin’s pull, Som-O was unable to escape the clutches of Bangkok until February 2022 when she took a position as Head of Hub of Education at a local school. Som-O worked diligently at the school for almost two years, with a broad range of responsibilities, improving the school’s financial position enormously. Her job title sounded impressive, but it was not matched with a commensurate salary, nor much gratitude from school ownership. Feeling under-appreciated, Som-O resigned and looked instead to working for herself, which is how her dance academy, located in the TRex precinct at Hin Lek Fai, came into existence in May 2023.

Som-O faced a difficult family situation from her very first breath, her parents having separated before her birth, leaving her mother with a newborn as well as a four-year-old daughter. It wasn’t until much later in her life that Som-O learnt her mother hadn’t had a positive mothering role-model, having been placed for adoption early, and then taken in by a family who desired a servant and not a child of their own to love. As a result, Som-O’s mother had received no education and so faced a life of poverty as a single mother, forced to take on any labouring job she could get. Her mother’s inability to cope eventually motivated her father to take the girls to live with his cousin in Sukhothai, over 400 kilometres north of Bangkok. This cousin became “Auntie” to the sisters and Auntie’s parents their surrogate, respected grandparents.

In total, Som-O spent a decade of her formative years in Sukhotai. At the time, she was aware that she had been abandoned by both her parents and was missing a sense of belonging although she was surrounded by extended family who included her in the daily activities, which Som-O viewed as play rather than work. Auntie made fish sauce, buying the anchovies which were beheaded by Som-O, layered in salt and left to ferment. Som-O’s sister made interpersonal connections with seeming ease, but Som-O felt isolated and lonely. From four and a half, Som-O attended the public temple school which was located very near her home. She recalls walking there by herself on the very first day of school and being amazed at the number of her classmates who were crying at being left by their parents. She, on the other hand, had been bored at home and was keen to start her school education. Her pain at being without her parents was not temporary like theirs, but profound and on-going.

It is no wonder that it has taken Som-O decades to forgive her mother for the abandonment and the cruelty, emotional as well as physical. Som-O embraced Christianity some time ago, and this may account for how she has managed to forgive, and build some sort of a relationship with her mother, even providing her with financial assistance for dental work. Despite having followed Buddhist teachings as a child, Som-O became disenchanted with them in Bangkok where she saw people profiting from bad, illegal and unscrupulous behaviour. Som-O’s personal relationship with God is solidly based on treating every living being with compassion and morality. She is expecting a visit in Hua Hin from her mother in the near future, but although the visit will be cordial, Som-O does not feel a strong filial attachment with, or indeed any obligation to, her biological mother. Som-O has no intention of displacing her three beloved house cats for her mother’s convenience. If she doesn’t like them inside the house, she is welcome to sleep outdoors. Som-O’s cats give their love, unconditionally.

Som-O has happier memories of her father’s infrequent visits of Sukhothai. Naturally a social and ebullient man, his mood fuelled by alcohol consumption, Som-O’s dad at least cradled her in his lap while he drank with his friends. She missed him when he travelled as contract labourer, using his skills in welding, to Saudi Arabia in the 1980s.

Som-O was in Grade 3, seven years of age, when she discovered Thai classical music and was immediately drawn to its percussion instruments. She tried the ranat thum, a low-pitched wooden xylophone, then the kong wong yai, a circle of 16 tuned gongs in a rattan frame, played from the centre of the circle with two beaters, before settling on her favourite, which she still loves today, the chakhe, a distinctive crocodile-shaped fretted floor zither with 3 strings which are plucked. While Thai music will always resonate with Som-O, it is now Latin-American beats she streams most often in her lessons.

Luckily, through her career as dance instructor, Som-O has had a lot of interaction with young people, managing to satisfy her maternal urges that way, since she has never had children of her own. Indeed, Som-O has been told by more than one student that she has been a more potent maternal influence than their biological mother. Som-O learnt a lot about loving and nurturing from a woman she names as the living person she most admires. She met Khun Mam when Mam became her student, despite Som-O being some 20 years her junior. Mam inspired Som-O and believed in Som-O, even when Som-O’s self-belief ran short. Mam gave Som-O money to help her mother, gifting it with only the expectation that Som-O would pay it forward at some time in the future.

It was by accident that Som-O discovered the Social Dance Club in the Activities Building during her first year of tertiary study, as it was located adjacent to the Thai Classical Music Club, and her passion for dance was ignited. Little did she imagine when she subsequently encountered the Best Image Dance Studio in 1998 that her meeting with its owners, the legendary Jeab and Pak, would alter not only her career but also the course of Som-O’s life.

Som-O’s dance career deserves a memoir of its own, yet a brief outline of career highlights must suffice. Only beginning ballroom dance training in 1999, Som-O was Thai National Team Champion by 2001. She worked with the renown Arthur Murray World Dance Studio in Hong Kong in 2007 but still managed to further her education at the same time, graduating in Fashion Design from Accademia Italiana in 2008. Som-O participated in Dancing with the Stars Thailand in 2013, partnering with Lek Aisoon, famous as the first male Thai actor to pose in skimpy, sexy underwear. Som-O’s dance career in the entertainment industry also included appearances in World of Dance Thailand and Dance Dance Dance Thailand in 2018 as well as a guest appearance in season 2 of Big Brother Thailand years earlier in 2006. Som-O even collaborated with 1990s superstar singer, Bird Thongchai, and has been on first-name terms with Espen Salberg, a Norwegian Ballroom Dancing Coach who was the most sought-after coach of his time.

Som-O certainly built a name for herself by being both highly disciplined and ambitious. Her life revolved around only three things: teaching, dancing and sleep. Unfortunately, not enough of the later saw Som-O committed to what she calls “crazy hospital”, a psychiatric ward. She has had three such admissions. One thing she learnt from that experience is that she can survive without any material possessions, as inmates are allowed nothing, not even their own clothing. One factor that contributed to Som-O’s mental health issues and her eventual diagnosis with bipolar disorder was being immersed in the world of stardom and celebrity. Much as Som-O tried to avoid the studio politics, controversy found her, along with petty jealousies, bitter feuds, betrayal and general behaviour befitting a diva, not only from the ladyboys. Altogether, this was a potent influence on Som-O’s decision to leave Bangkok for good after 30 years, in favour of the serenity of Hua Hin. Som-O can’t imagine a circumstance that would make her re-evaluate that decision, let alone change her mind. Status and fame are no-longer on her radar.

But an increase in financial fortune would not be unwelcome. Som-O has been paying it forward. She has one student who she gave a free year-long scholarship when she saw others telling the unfortunate girl that she would never amount to much since she didn’t have a typical dancer’s physique. Som-O’s greatest aim for all her students is that they make friends through dancing: that dance can be a tool to help each student, young or older, in other areas of their lives, maximising potential yet all the while reminding them that dancing should be fun as well as hard work. She often tells her students that they should only compete with their own past self, and that dance results don’t define a person. Keen to give her students as much performance opportunity as possible, Som-0 has partnered with Anantasila in hosting regular dance showcase events.