Archive of "Washington Ballet to perform here in tribute to Choo San", The Straits Times, 9 January 1988

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Washington Ballet to perform here in tribute to Choo San

THE Washington Ballet will perform here on Jan 19 in a tribute to the late Goh Choo San, who had choreographed works for the company since 1976.

The unprecedented one-night performance at the Kallang Theatre is part of a lingering public farewell to the brilliant Singapore-born choreographer who died in New York last November.

There will also be a memorial service for Choo San at the Victoria Concert Hall on Wednesday, Jan 20 at 6 pm.

A film about his life and work is expected to be shown at this service and a video of the memorial service held for him in Washington, DC on Tuesday may also be shown.

Seven people spoke at that remembrance service at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a major showcase of the arts in Washington, DC.

Baryshnikov spoke at service

Among them was Singapore s Ambassador to the United States, Mr Tommy Koh; the noted ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, Janet Shibata, a dancer whom Choo San called his Muse, and Miss Mary Day, who as founder and artistic director invited Choo San to join the Washington Ballet. Miss Day said in a telephone interview "We’ve been to Singapore so many times with Choo San that I think I won't fully realise, until we're there, that he is not with us."

She said the idea of holding the tribute here was mentioned during a wake for Choo San held at a funeral home in New York on Dec 1.

The tribute will be a charity event to benefit the Singapore Dance Theatre, the professional company newly formed by Choo San's sister, Madam Goh Soo Khim, and the choreographer, Mr Anthony Then, his contemporary and close friend.

It will be the third time the ballet company is performing to raise funds for the arts in Singapore.

The company is waiving its performance fee and Singapore Airlines is providing the tickets for the 28-member troupe.

They will fly here from Taiwan on Jan 18.

Miss Kay Butler, a Washington Ballet board member who is visiting Singapore, spoke of the "tremendous groundswell of co-operation" it took to bring the show and sponsors together in the short space of about a month. Other sponsors are City Developments Ltd, American Business Council and European Consumer Products (principal for Telefunken Consumer Electronics), while Holiday Inn Park View and Siakson Coach Tours are sponsoring accommodation and local transportation.

Tickets available from Monday

Tickets for the performance, at $50, $30, $20 and $10, will be available at Victoria Theatre, Tangs and Cold Storage Centrepoint from Monday. Donation tickets, at $100, are also available from the Singapore Dance Theatre.

For more information, call Alice Koh on 737-5772 or Adeline Tan on 223-1511, ext 12.

(Photo: Goh Choo San ... the tribute will raise funds for his sister's dance company.)

=See also=
 * Earliest cases of HIV/AIDS in Singapore
 * Archive of "Choo San leaps to new heights", New Nation, 15 August 1980
 * Archive of "The ascent of Goh Choo San", The Singapore Monitor, 5 June 1984
 * Archive of "The Gohs get together for two concerts", The Straits Times, 22 June 1987
 * Archive of "Choreographer Goh Choo San dies in New York", The Straits Times, 1 December 1987
 * Archive of "The dance is over", The Straits Times, 1 December 1987
 * Archive of "Choo San’s million-dollar gift to young dancers and choreographers", The Straits Times, 17 January 1988
 * Archive of "Washington Ballet: Show goes but the void is hard to fill", The Straits Times, 24 January 1988

=References=
 * "Washington Ballet to perform here in tribute to Choo San", The Straits Times, 9 January 1988.

=Acknowledgements=

This article was archived by Roy Tan.