Word for Word

22 Jun 2014

The Multi-Culture Man – David Chong ….(PLUS: A Preview of AIDS 2014)

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David Chong was born in Australia, the son of Chinese acrobats who were touring Australia at the time. They settled in Brazil when David was 6 years old.

David returned to Australia at the age 25 having qualified as a psychologist. David finds himself in the unique situation of being Australian by birth, Chinese by heritage and Brazilian by culture.

Following his parents’ creative passion, he was also a contemporary dancer in Brazil (Grupo Corpo) and is now the lead singer and composer for Brazilian jazz band Tatu Rei.

David has established a successful career in psychology working in Melbourne, and abroad in Cambodia, Laos and Japan. When David returned to Australia shops closed at 5pm and there was no Southbank complex by the Yarra River, but he was surprised at the strong dialogue and acknowledgement of multiculturalism and gay rights in Australia.

As a psychologist David has focused his work on various groups including: the homeless, migrants, gay people, youth, addiction and trauma patients. In 2009 David married Trevor Smith, his life companion.

Watch David’s Father and Mother, Chong and Mana, perform their fire twirling act on The Ed Sullivan Show June 4, 1967.

David will be hosting a series of dinners on selected dates from 3 – 12 July, cooking and telling stories from his life, as a theatre production Acrobat (A Dining Room Tale) for independent Melbourne theatre company A is for Atlas.

PLUS – AIDS 2014 Preview