Abhinaya: A Lecture Demonstration with Mavin Khoo and Poornima Satish

Mavin Khoo is internationally recognised as a dance artist, teacher, choreographer, and artistic scholar. His initial training was at the Temple of Fine Arts and Sri Wilayah Ballet School in Malaysia. He then pursued intensive training in bharatanatyam under the legendary dance maestro, Padma Shri Adyar K. Lakshman in India, Cunningham technique at the Cunningham studios in New York and Classical Ballet under Marian St. Claire, Michael Beare, Nancy Kilgour, and Raymond Chai. As a contemporary dance artist, he has worked with Wayne McGregor, Akram Khan, Shobana Jeyasingh, Ivan Perez Aviles, and others.

His commissioned works include creations for the Venice Biennale and Canada Dance Festival, to name a few. Images in Varnam (2001) was commissioned by the Royal Ballet Artists Development Initiative and was followed by another ROH2 commission, Let me…with Royal Ballet dancer Kristen McNally. Mavin is considered one of the few bharatanatyam male soloists to have carved a niche for himself as an international touring solo artist, while still regularly dancing at all major venues in India, including the Music Academy and Kalakshetra in Chennai. Mavin holds a Master’s in Choreography from Middlesex University. He was a faculty member of the Dance Studies Department at the School of Performing Arts, University of Malta. In 2014, he was appointed artistic director of ŻfinMalta Dance Ensemble, where he choreographed and danced until 2017.

Mavin is Creative Associate at Akram Khan Company and acts as lead rehearsal director and stager for Akram’s repertory, working on productions such as iTMOi, XENOS and Outwitting the Devil, among others. He also acts as Repetiteur to Akram Khan’s work with ballet companies coaching and staging productions such as Creature and Giselle for English National Ballet and Royal Ballet of Flanders. As a dance artist today, Mavin maintains his touring work as a mature artist with a focus on solo bharatanatyam concert performances.

Chitra Poornima Sathish is a Carnatic vocalist. She has presented solo and collaborative classical concerts at various platforms, while also constantly trying to extend her love for music in other spheres—such as dance, theatre and teaching.

Poornima has been fortunate to have teachers who have taught, inspired and guided her, instilling a deep passion for the arts. She began learning at the Temple of Fine Arts Singapore, from teachers Rajalaskhmi Sekar and later Gowri Gokul. She then went on to continue her studies in the art-form with Bombay Jayashri in India. Each of them has been instrumental in making music an integral part of Poornima’s life.

Poornima continues to deepen her craft through practice and performance and teaches at the Temple of Fine Arts. She is also currently pursuing her Master’s in Music Education at the National Institute of Education, Singapore.