Divas on the prowl

HONG KONG'S answer to the Spice Girls, the Rice Girls, are back, but this time with their own identity and their own songs. The all-girl copycat band, launched in 1998, made a name for themselves with their sassy outfits and punchy dance routines.

They played alongside Canto-pop star Aaron Kwok Fu-shing and performed in front of the Chief Executive, but decided to call it quits after the Millennium Carnival in Victoria Park. After a two-year gap, the band has reformed as Rice. The Spice Girls - Posh, Scary, Baby, Sporty and Ginger - are out of the picture.

The new-look band now features five funky personalities: Golden Disco Diva, Sassy Sugar Babe, Exotic Karate Fighter, Cool Karaoke Queen and Sexy Tai Tai Lady.

And with the new band comes their first CD, launched two months ago with two original songs and a remix. Band leader Rachael Blackmore says she hopes the first song, Rice Rap, will become a Hong Kong anthem. But it is the second song, Smile, that has a catchier tune and has proved a bigger hit among Rice fans.

Blackmore, who choreographs the band's moves and designs the outfits, also teaches a dance class for children. Disco Divas began in September 2000 at Clearwater Bay School with five students. The numbers have now swelled to three classes of children aged five to 11, with another class at Beacon Hill School for children aged six to nine.

'I didn't want to run exam-based classes, where some kids might be afraid of failing. At Disco Divas, everyone gets to wear outfits and do the shows,' she says.