Erick De Chavez (updated September 2007)
A little bit more info…
Born in Manila, Philippines, on 2nd of October 1981,
I’m now 25 years of age and been living in London for 7 years. I came to England because both my parents are separated
when I was about 5 and never been really that much closed to my father apart
from my younger sister, who’s here now also living in England. My mum
who’s been living here in London,
for almost 20 years brought me and my sister to live here and ‘hey! this is
probably the best thing that ever happened to me, here’s the picture of my
lovely mum and my younger sister. Another thing I came here for is because
theirs a lot of opportunity for me in the UK compared to the Philippines, ever
since I was a little kid I always loved dancing and performing, so my first
year in London I spend a lot of studying
and took my National Diploma in Dance back in 1999. It was a tough year for my
first and two years, one because I was really feeling homesick and wanting to
go back in Philippines, missing all my cousin, friend, especially my loving
Auntie who helped and look after me and my sister. And other thing was I don’t
speak a word of English, although English is a second language in Philippines
we don’t really practise and speak it when we have conversation, which kind of
not helped for me socialising with people and find some new friends and also
for my course which include Drama as part of my diploma my grammar and my
pronunciation isn’t quite there yet. So I took English language while I’m doing
my Performing Arts. So here I am now, writing my biography to you and do hope I
make sense with you. LOL. One other quite important detail about me is that
‘Erick’ isn’t my real name, my real name is ‘Laudymer’, I change it simply
because a lot of people either can’t pronounce my name right or spell it right,
but you probably wondering why chose name Erick? Answer, I don’t know, is just
the name I like.
Anyhow after getting my National Diploma I took a year
off and start looking for job I never had any job experienced so even getting a
job in McDonalds never happened. I worked in local supermarkets to helped for
my next coming term cause at the time I’m totally relying on my mum financially
which also at the time I never been out to her about my sexuality. It never
really bother me a lot because I know my mum would be really cool about it,
she’s a cool mum! So me coming out to my mum being gay never did really make a
big deal.
I
really wanted to expand my career in performing, so after I had my year off I
went back to college in 2001 and did my 3 year Musical Theatre at the Laines
Theatre Arts’ in Epsom (South of England) luckily got my scholarship so
wouldn’t have to pay the whole amount on term fee. My training includes Jazz,
Contemporary, Street Jazz, Tap and Ballet which I don’t particularly like. I
did Musical Theatre partly because I loved singing too. Half way to my course I
really did struggle financially so then decided to have a break but still going
to some dance classes in London
which I got spotted by a director planning to do a show. So in 2002 I did my
very first production on one of the theatre in London (Sadlers Wells Theatre) showcasing a
different kind of dance such as jazz, street jazz, break dancing and hip-hop.
Through them I met a lot of people in the industry and got a lot of job, big
and small part and I decided to completely ditch my musical theatre course and
start sending my CV to some various agencies.
Being a dancer is a very competitive business, you
have to go for auditions and all this crap so if you’re not at the top of the
game your out. This made me think I need some other form of job. In 2003 I did
my Diploma in Personal Training; it’s a very intensive course for 3 months
which include sports massage and physiotherapy. I loved training and going to
the gym, I go to gym 5 times a week. I got my Diploma and shortly after, I
worked as a Personal Trainer at Fitness First Gym, Covent Garden (Central London). Finally got the things I really liked
doing and at the same time get paid for it. The gym was a great place to work
and a lot of gay guys using the gym so I did really well getting some clients.
And also continue my personal training through my website where people can get
some good tips (work-out techniques) and some nutritional advice on their
training.
Being in London is such a great city, I met a lot of
guys who worked and danced in a big club as a go-go dancer and that’s where I
got into a go-go dancing job and met the guy that I loved the most ‘Chris
Geary’ he’s the most sweet and loving person and been with him for 2years now.
I met him through the club I was dancing and him and his gang was dancing there
too, and up to now we worked together and living with him in London.
On the 24th of August 2007: after a long 9
years of waiting I finally got my British Citizenship, it was the best day of
my life! Although I am a British Citizen my country (Philippines) actually allow me to
have a dual citizens. I love my country, most of my relatives are over there
and it gives me a great excitement every time I go back and see them all. The
good advantage for me of having a British Passport, is that it will allow me to
travel anywhere abroad without the hassle of having to get a visa for each
trip. The Philippines
unfortunately is one of those countries that you can’t just buy your ticket and
hop on the plane and be free where ever you want to go. I just hope that one
day that we become a free world and have the people to travel free where ever
they want to go and find their dreams and happiness.
Hope you like the photos and video, you’ll find even
more on my boyfriends web site: www.ChrisGeary.com
www.ErickDeChavez.com
