Malta’s national contemporary dance company, ŻfinMalta Dance Ensemble, will this week launch its first season with Erbgħa, a premiere featuring four dances by four choreographers. The mixed bill will present distinctive works that demonstrate the versatility and diversity of the company within its Euro-Mediterranean context and sensibility.
“My vision for this company is that, while it carries international repute and embodies the highest contemporary quality benchmarks, it remains a company for and by the Maltese people. Understanding the required legacy of Malta’s first national dance company is a responsibility that I take very seriously,” says ŻfinMalta’s artistic director Mavin Khoo.
The commissioned works for the premiere include Selah by UK-based Spanish choreographer José Agudo (new music by Vincenzo Lamagna), Iż-Żmien by Maltese choreographer Francesca Tranter (music Walter Micallef), and a company ensemble work by artistic director Mavin Khoo (performed to a Stabat Mater by 18th-century Maltese-Italian composer Girolamo Abos). The premiere concludes with a piece that is being restaged for the company, a duet, Kick the Bucket by Dutch-based international choreographer Ivan Perez (music by Aaron Martin).
“My dream is that dance and the prowess of ŻfinMalta’s dancers will be a source of pride to Malta. The task we have at hand is to place this dream within the reality of the industry and make it happen,” says Khoo, who trained in Malaysia, India, New York and London.
Khoo has worked with major dance-makers such as Akram Khan and Wayne McGregor and has been commissioned by the Royal Opera House and Southbank Centre in London on several occasions as well as the prestigious Venice Biennale and Canada Dance Festival, among others.
The last few years have seen him committed to the development of dance in Malta while he was a faculty member of the Dance Studies Department at the University of Malta. He has also maintained his international profile actively as a touring dancer/choreographer and as rehearsal director and choreographic assistant to the acclaimed Akram Khan Company.
The premiere will be held on Friday at the MITP in St Christopher Street, Valletta. Previews will be held on Wednesday and Thursday. The programme will be performed again on Saturday and next Sunday and on March 21 at the Astra Theatre. A master class for trained dancers will also be held in Gozo. Tickets for the premiere will be by invitation only.
Tickets cost €15 each for all the performances, except for the premiere, which is by invite only. Concessions tickets at €8 each are available only for Wednesday and Thursday and for the Gozo performance. All performances start at 8pm. More info and tickets from www.zfinmalta.org.
The Gozo master class will be held at the Xewkija Visual and Performing Arts Centre on March 19 between 11.30am and 1pm. Booking is on a first-come first-served basis. Send an e-mail to info@zfinmalta.org. The master class is free and is open to trained dancers (16+) at intermediate level or equivalent.