Malta’s first national dance company’s biggest challenge will be having an audience that takes ownership and feels confident to like it or dislike it, according to its artistic director.

“The one thing I don’t want is for people to come watch us and say ‘that was nice’. I think ‘nice’ is the biggest insult an artist can get,” international dancer and choreo­grapher Mavin Khoo told Times of Malta days before the official launch of the company.

“I would rather they say ‘I can’t stand it’ or ‘I absolutely love it’. The aim of this company is to consistently make great art and its biggest challenge is to build an audience that feels confident to say that.”

The quality of work presented in Malta by artists who do dance on the side is amazing

The proposal to set up the company was made in 2012 but it was only in the last Budget speech that €200,000 was allocated to get the project off the ground.

For the past four weeks, under the direction of Mr Khoo, the company started building its artistic infrastructure and plans for the coming 18 months.

Artistic director Mavin Khoo.

Made up of two apprentices and eight dancers – with Mr Khoo a possible ninth – the national dance company has assumed the name of Żfin Malta Dance Ensemble and falls under the auspices of the Fondazzjoni Ċentru Kreattività. It is one of the flagship projects for Valletta’s European Capital City of Culture title in 2018.

While rehearsal directors will come from abroad to work with the dancers, it was crucial the company built its own identity. It had to develop a Maltese identity artistically and stylistically. This meant that, while touring, the company would be recognised as the one from Malta, Mr Khoo said.

The company’s aims are threefold: the performance and touring aspect; the educational part where interactive programmes will, hopefully, be integrated within school curriculums; and the company’s outreach in the community.

“Before expecting people to come to the theatre we need to go to them first and we’re very excited about this aspect,” Mr Khoo said, adding that the company would be going into villages with inter­active programmes tailored for different communities.

However, the biggest challenge remained building an audience and showing people they could be part of it.

“This is the people’s company. Instead of telling people what dance is and telling them they have to understand it, it’s really about making them feel they can take ownership of it.

“Contemporary art is about people having the freedom to take ownership of what they see.

“The main thing is that they feel they have a right to like it or to not like it,” he said.

Mr Khoo’s vision is for it to be “a great company”.

I think nice is the biggest insult an artist can get... I would rather they say I can’t stand it or I love it

“If we want it to be great, as much as we aim to make great work, we also have to expect that some work will not go down well with people.

“Great art is about really loving it or really hating it and people need to be free to make that choice.”

This meant that whether they got a good or bad review did not really matter. “The fact that we become significant enough for foreign publications to know who we are is what we need to aim for; becoming internationally significant will be hugely beneficial to the development of our own cultural identity.”

Mr Khoo, who has been in Malta for five years, said the company would also be looking into building a legacy by developing potential for artists on the island and it would hopefully inspire the birth of other dance companies.

Ultimately, the company stood as a symbol of possibility and there was no bigger responsibility than that to inspire, Mr Khoo said.

“The quality of work presented in Malta by artists who do dance on the side is amazing.

“I think the standards are high, so you can imagine where our standards would be if half of these artists actually started working full-time,” he added.