Choo Chiat Goh (born 1939) is a Chinese ballet

dancer Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

, 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 country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and subsequently trained under dancer and choreographer

Pyotr Gusev Pyotr Andreyevich Gusev (russian: Пётр Андреевич Гусев) was a ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer. He was born on 29 December, 1904 in St. Petersburg. He studied at the St. Petersburg School of Choreography under . He was a ...

in China. In 1959, he graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy.

Career

After training, he became a principal dancer at the National Ballet of China. 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. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. 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 Chan Hon Goh, C.M. D.Litt (simplified Chinese: 吴振红; traditional Chinese: 吳振紅; born in 1969 in Beijing, China), is a Chinese-born Canadian ballerina. Goh was most notably a principal dancer with The National Ballet of Canada before g ...

. 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 June ...

in 1988.

Award

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

References

Living people 1939 births Chinese ballet dancers Chinese choreographers {{Ballet-bio-stub