Mavin Khoo

"A sexual ambiguity pervades whenever Khoo is on..." (The Independent, UK)

"The charismatic Khoo" (Taipei Times, Taiwan)

"What makes Mavin's dance so authentic in spirit is the involvement" (The Hindu, India)

"Khoo de THEATRE!" (Evening Standard, UK)

Mavin Khoo

Mavin Khoo was born in Malaysia where he began his dance studies, eventually training in India, the USA and Britain. He studied Bharata Natyam with the legendary dance maestro, Padma Shri Adyar K.Lakshman in India, Cunningham technique at the Cunningham studios in New York and Classical Ballet under the direct tutelage of Marian st. Claire, Michael Beare, Nancy Kilgour and Tory Trotter.

An established dancer and choreographer, he has worked in collaboration with Wayne McGregor (Encoder, 1997), Akram Khan (No Male Egos, 1999) Christopher Bannermen (Cast in Stone, 2000) and others. He has guested with with Sankalpam, Random, City Ballet of London and Shobana Jeyasingh dance companies in the UK. He has also toured as guest artist with Ballet de Zaragoza and Ballet de Regensburg

Commissioned works include creations for the National Youth Dance Company (2000), London Studio Centre's Jazz Company (2001, 2003, 2005, and 2008), Union Dance (2005), Akademi (2005, 2007), Blue-Cube Promotions (2006) and Canada Dance Festival with Sampradaya Dance Creations and Ballet Jorgen Canada (2007).

He has created Bharata Natyam works for independent Bharata Natyam soloist Chitra Sundaram (2001) and Seeta Patel (2005). Images in varnam (2001) that was commissioned by the Royal Ballet Artists Development Initiative was then followed by another ROH2 commission, Let me...with Royal Ballet dancer Kristen McNally.

As a bharata natyam soloist, Khoo has toured the world. He has been honoured by the prestigious Krishna Gana Sabha (Chennai) for his Bharata Natyam performance work and is a regular soloist dancing in all the major venues in India including the Music Academy, Chennai.

His own company mavinkhooDance was founded in 2003, with its first international touring production Parallel Passions. This was followed by Chandra/Luna (2004-2005), Devi: the Female Principle (2006), Strictly Bharata Natyam (2006), Devi: In Absolution (2008), 'Dancing my Shiva (2010), his long awaited version of Swan Lake – '00.00 – 00.01' (2011) and most recently 'Akasha' (2012). Khoo is a recipient of the prestigious Chevening scholarship (British Council) and holds an MA in Ch