Che Engku Chesterina (born Chesterina Sim-Zecha in 1943) is a former Indonesian ballerina who became a Malaysian royal after marrying Tunku Tan Sri Abdullah, a prince of

Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Nogoghi Sombilan'', ''Nismilan''), historically spelled as Negri Sembilan, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia which lies on the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, wes ...

and founder of Melewar Group. Che Engku Chesterina was born into the

Lauw-Sim-Zecha family The Lauw-Sim-Zecha family is an Indonesian people, Indonesian family of the 'Cabang Atas' or the Chinese gentry of the Dutch East Indies (colonial Indonesia). They came to prominence at the start of the nineteenth century as ''Pacht, Pachters'' ...

, a prominent ''

Peranakan The Peranakan Chinese () are an ethnic group defined by their genealogical descent from the first waves of Southern Chinese settlers to maritime Southeast Asia, known as Nanyang (region), Nanyang (), namely the British Empire, British, Portugu ...

'' family of the

Cabang Atas The Cabang Atas (''Van Ophuijsen Spelling System'': Tjabang Atas)—literally 'upper branch' in Indonesian language, Indonesian—was the traditional Chinese establishment or gentry of Dutch East Indies, colonial Indonesia. They were the families ...

or the Chinese gentry of colonial Indonesia. She is descended from

Louisa Zecha Francisca Louisa Zecha (1848–1939), usually known as Louisa Zecha, was a prominent, colonial Indonesian community leader and the ''Indo''-Bohemian matriarch of the Lauw-Sim-Zecha family, part of the 'Cabang Atas' gentry of the Dutch East Indies ...

, an ''

Indo INDO stands for Intermediate Neglect of Differential Overlap. It is a semi-empirical quantum chemistry method that is a development of the complete neglect of differential overlap (CNDO/2) method introduced by John Pople. Like CNDO/2 it uses zer ...

'' planter of

Bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...

descent, by her second marriage to Sim Keng Koen, the first '' Kapitein der Chinezen'' of

Sukabumi Sukabumi () is a landlocked city surrounded by the Sukabumi Regency, regency of the same name (within which it is an enclave and exclave, enclave) in the southern foothills of Mount Gede, in West Java, Indonesia, about south of the national ca ...

, the Dutch-appointed head of the local Chinese community. She is also a cousin of the hotelier and founder of

Aman Resorts Aman Resorts is the trading entity of Aman Group Sarl, a Swiss-headquartered multinational hospitality company. Founded by Indonesian hotelier Adrian Zecha in 1988, the company operates 35 properties in 20 countries. Vladislav Doronin is the ...

Adrian Zecha Adrian Willem Ban Kwie Lauw-Zecha (born 1933), better known as Adrian Zecha, is an Indonesian hotelier and founder of several international hotel companies including Regent Hotels & Resorts, Regent Hotels, GHM Hotels, Aman Resorts, and Azerai, ...

. Chesterina Sim-Zecha moved to England to study ballet in 1956 at The Legat School under the tutelage of Madam Nadine Nicolaeva-Legat. While working in Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical, “

Flower Drum Song ''Flower Drum Song'' was the eighth musical theatre, musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on the 1957 novel, ''The Flower Drum Song'', by Chinese-American author C. Y. Lee (author), C. Y. Lee. It premiered on Broadway the ...

” in London's West End,

Sir Peter Wright Sir Peter Wright CBE (born 25 November 1926) is a British ballet teacher, choreographer, director and former professional dancer. He worked as a choreographer and as the artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, a classical ballet company ba ...

discovered Chesterina's exceptional talent. She was given the starring role of Odette in

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoje ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, links=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failu ...

at the Festival of Cork. She then joined as one of the pioneer dancers of Stuttgart Ballet in Germany under John Cranko. Chesterina retired from dancing in 1973 when she married into the royal house of Negeri Sembilan. Upon marriage, she acquired the royal title of '' Che Engku'' or princess. She is the Honorary Patron of the Central School of Classical Ballet in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

References

Ballerinas Malaysian dancers 1943 births Living people Lauw-Sim-Zecha family Cabang Atas Royal House of Negeri Sembilan Indo people Indonesian people of Malaysian descent Indonesian emigrants to Malaysia 20th-century ballet dancers {{Malaysia-royal-stub