Choo Chiat Goh (born 1939) is a Chinese ballet

dancer Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

, and the founder of the renowned Goh Ballet Academy, Canada, along with his wife Lin Yee.

Early life

Goh was born in Singapore, into a family of 10 children. His parents were Chinese, and spoke

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

. At the age of 13, he watched '' The Red Shoes'' and fell in love with the art form. Next year, he joined the

Royal Ballet School The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and subsequently trained under dancer and choreographer Pyotr Gusev in China. In 1959, he graduated from the

Beijing Dance Academy The Beijing Dance Academy (BDA, ) is a municipal public professional dance college at Haidian District, Haidian, Beijing. The academy is the highest institution for dance education and assessment in the People's Republic of China, conducting the ...

Career

After training, he became a principal dancer at the

National Ballet of China The National Ballet of China (NBC), known in China as the Central Ballet Troupe, is the national ballet company of the People's Republic of China. It was founded on 31 December 1959. The ballet company works from the Tianqiao Theater, which was s ...

. The Cultural Revolution of 1966 - 1976 changed the way ballet was performed in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. He went to Canada to visit his sick mother and remained there, and started the Goh Ballet Academy.

Personal life

Goh is married to Lin Yee, also a ballet dancer. Their daughter is Chan Hon Goh. One of Goh's sisters, Soonee Goh, trained at the

in London and co-founded the Singapore Ballet Academy in Singapore. Another sister, Soo Khim Goh, trained at the

Australian Ballet School The Australian Ballet School is the premier ballet training facility in Australia, located in Melbourne. History The Australian Ballet School was founded in 1964 as the primary training facility for The Australian Ballet by Dame Margaret Scot ...

, and was the co-founder of the

Singapore Dance Theatre The Singapore Ballet (formerly known as Singapore Dance Theatre) is Singapore's national dance company, founded in 1988 by Anthony Then and Goh Soo Khim. The Artistic Director of the company is Janek Schergen. History It made its debut in J ...

in 1988.

Award

* 2017 - ''Lifetime Achievement Award'' - by Vancouver Mayor, Gregor Robertson *2013 - ''Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal'' - by MP

Hedy Fry Hedy Madeleine Fry, (born August 6, 1941) is a Canadian politician and physician, and is currently the longest-serving female Member of Parliament. A member of the Liberal Party, she has won eleven consecutive elections in the constituency of ...

References

Living people 1939 births 20th-century Chinese ballet dancers Chinese choreographers Chinese male ballet dancers {{Ballet-bio-stub