Dancer Mavin Khoo and Block9 director create immersive queer performance

The internationally acclaimed dance artist, Mavin Khoo, is combining music, dance, and film to tell his story as a queer South Asian man living in London in the new show MAN[or]GOD

This immersive journey performed inside a dark warehouse will see Khoo partner with contemporary ballet dancer Hector Ferrer in a piece exploring tensions in a relationship challenged by opposing ideas of love and God. 

Block9 co-founder and director, Gideon Berger, serves as the project’s creative and musical director providing a score featuring Khoo’s own honest lyrics. 

Choreography comes from the Berlin-based Joy Alpuerto Ritter and Akram Khan.

A projected film by the French director, Maxime Dos will add another vibrant and significant dimension to the story, with lighting coming from Ric Mountjoy. 

MAN[or]GOD exposes the rarely explored space between spirituality and the queer experience, it encapsulates the many identities of a mature man and artist in London nightlife underworld. It is a validation of Self through the ‘touch’ of others – both Man and God.

Of the project, Khoo’s last before he returns solely to solo Indian classical concert recitals, Khoo says, “Celebrating my 30-year journey as a professional dance artist, I feel empowered to tell my story with a sense of ownership.

“I am deeply humbled to hold the hands of choreographers Akram Khan and Joy Alpuerto Ritter, who has been an essential part of my life. In addition, being supported by a creative team of incredible artists gives me such a sense of confidence in articulating this very personal piece.

“In this liminal experience, God and Sex belong to the same space, where life reveals its Beauty through its own complexities and tensions. Suspended space & time, we stop trying to decipher and apprehend, we feel and surrender.”

This site-specific piece will be presented in a select number of theatres. It contains strong language and themes of a sexual nature.

Tickets are available for performances on the 23 and 24 September at The Cannon Factory in London. For more information and ticket prices click here. 

The Attitude September/October issue is out now.