Solo recitals are the main performing currency of South Asian classical dance, and Mavin Khoo is one of the most fascinating artists in the genre. Yet Khoo's new one-man show, Margam - The Path, turns out to be a disappointing showcase for his talents.
It's a carefully symmetrical recital that has obviously been tailored to Khoo's versatility (he is trained in modern dance and ballet as well as bharata natyam). One pure dance and one narrative piece is performed in each half, and while the first section is grounded in traditional idioms, the second gives expression to Khoo's personal contemporary style.
The pure dance numbers don't disappoint in terms of Khoo's brilliant technique, with the startle-footed leaps of bharata natyam, his fiercely linear arm movements and light-catching gestures. Khoo is one of the most sculpturally exact of dancers, making exquisite musical and visual contrasts out of glittering velocity and meditative slowness. In his own pure dance, Thillana, he takes these contrasts to bold extremes, covering tracts of space with lightning speed, then tracing the slow impulse of each movement with quiet intensity.
But there is a nagging quality of narcissism in these dances, a sense that certain poses are lingered over only to display Khoo's considerable beauty. This impression is heightened in the two representative dances. These narratives of gods and lovers are showcases for the dancer's virtuosity. Yet we should also see the wit and passion of the characters glinting through the performer's gestures and facial expressions. The dancer needs to be a physical ventriloquist, but here Khoo is the sole protagonist.
This is partly due to performing ego, and partly to a tension in Khoo's facial muscles that makes his repertoire of smiles and glances look arch rather than expressive. That the performance of the accompanying musicians rarely takes flight adds to the monotony. By the end of the show (nearly two hours) we have had too much.
Khoo is a dancer whose gifts are best seen in contrast with other performers. Reacting against other bodies, other personalities, he is constantly enthralling. On his own he is like some precious object - beautiful but static.
