Dancer and choreographer Mavin Khoo – who is also on this year’s Malta Arts Festival artistic committee – tells David Schembri about the triple bill of duets featured in the festival.
“I love duets, because I think that in duets you immediately get an emotional interpretation that happens just with having two people being in a space; there’s a relationship.”
Having put together an evening based on three duos performing different choreographies for the Malta Arts Festival, Mavin Khoo is far from paying lip service to duets.
The dance portion of the night will open with young blood, as Brenda Lee Grech and Victor Zarallo perform A Deux, with choreography by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and music by Olafur Arnalds, and Jealousy, with choreography by James Cousins and music by Ben Frost.
The two works will be linked by dance film featuring the dancers, entitled Origine, choreography by Constant Vigier, film by Lewis Landini and music by Bach.
“What’s interesting in that first section is that all four of them represent a particular new generation of young artists that are really kind of creating quite a buzz and being noticed within the industry. So we’re getting a current, fresh section which is really one that people are on the lookout for,” Khoo says.
The two dancers both form part of Scottish Ballet, and Khoo believes that as a successful Maltese dancer, “Brenda presents herself as a very good role model for a new generation of young Maltese dancers who are aiming to succeed and achieve”.
The local element morphs into choreography in the second portion of the evening, in which Khoo and Luke Divall dance a biographical composition called Tell Me Who I Am.
Based on Khoo’s colourful and somewhat contradictory life story, it is a collaborative choreography by three Maltese choreographers under 30: Maria Cassar, Valentina Azzopardi and Dorian Mallia.
“It was really important that, within the festival, we also began providing a platform for young Maltese artists, dancers, choreographers, to start getting the opportunity to really develop their skill at festival level,” Khoo says.
“I felt that in the past few years a lot of development has been happening, particularly in terms of independent dancers doing independent projects, creating new works, exploring, collaborating. It feels right that we should start providing these opportunities, because unless you do so, they won’t get to the next level. You’re not just born with experience – it comes because you have those opportunities.”
The reason he chose to commission a biographical work are threefold. “As a choreographer and performer, most of my work to date has come from a personal place, so it has had an autobiographical element to it. I thought it would be very interesting for me to take a step back and be placed in a situation where a choreographer was guiding me in terms of what people see me to be,” Khoo says.
Then there’s his life story and himself – rife with contrasts and contradictions. Khoo has an after hours London sensibility, but has a side of him that is very Indian, traditionally so.
“My life has married the very avant-garde, postmodern sensibilities to very traditional ones. I have also intentionally developed, over the years, an identity that is very anchored by a sense of androgyny and ambiguity. This identity never wants to place itself within any stereotype or cliché, but is very fluid,” Khoo says.
The other challenge in this work is to emotionally detach from the subject and create a composition that sits well. At the same time, the choreographers are being challenged to choose how they are going to represent such a multifaceted history.
Then there’s the issue of having to tell dancers more experienced than they what to do.
The beauty of contemporary performance is that it allows the audience to take ownership of what they’re seeing
“A very crucial element to developing your skills as a choreographer is to work with an artist who would be demanding on you,” Khoo says. “When I was young and had to do a piece for the Royal Ballet, it was very daunting. Suddenly, you had these dancers who would tell you if they didn’t want to do something and who had more experience than you. So you would have to listen as well, and you had to fight your corner.”
And that’s also part of developing as a choreographer, working in a situation where you really want to work at a particular level, understand how to negotiate, fight your corner, and learn how to work with the artist you’re working with.
However, he insists his is not a vain or narcissistic exercise. “I wouldn’t say it’s vain because I don’t look at it as a glorification – it’s a difficult exploration. A lot of my work has been autobiographical, so I’ve become used to looking at myself as a subject without being narcissistic about it. I think that’s the key element.”
The last duet in the evening is an excerpt from a work by Gregory Maqoma and Roberto Olivan, and will have only been premiered days before.
“They’re both very important choreographers in the industry today, and we’re very excited that they’re here,” Khoo says.
The other special nature of duets is that each has its own dynamic.
“Each duet represents very diverse energies. With Brenda and Victor you get a sense of what I guess people consider a male-female duet to be. However, I will say that one of the duets will surprise the audience in the manner in which it tackles this idea.
“Because of the nature of my presence on stage, my work has a more fluid relationship, shifting between a more active and a more ambiguous presence and energy. With the last two you get two masculine energies so they’re more equal in the space,” Khoo says.
Furthermore, the works represent large cultural diversity, and all of the work is current.
“A lot of people are nervous about contemporary dance because they often feel they won’t get it. But saying that, I think the beauty of contemporary performance is that it allows the audience to take ownership of what they’re seeing. I think the crucial thing for me is that my work is able to move audiences, either emotionally or intellectually, either positively or negatively – not to tell them.”
Triple Bill: Duets in Motion will be held on July 31 and August 1 at Pjazza Teatru Rjal as part of this year’s Malta Arts Festival. Classification 12+. The event will start at 9.30pm and will be preceded by a concert by the percussion group of the Malta Philharmonic Youth Orchestra in de Valette Square.
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