Goh Choo San

Goh Choo San (; 14 September 1948 – 28 November 1987) was a Singaporean ballet dancer and choreographer whose decade-long association with The Washington Ballet brought that company international acclaim.

Childhood The son of Goh Kim Lok (1904–1970), a merchant, and Siew Han Ch'ng (1912–1989), Goh was the youngest of nine children. His Chinese parents spoke Mandarin and brought up their children with very traditional values. Goh was influenced by and followed in the path of three of his older siblings to train as a dancer. Performance tours to Singapore from overseas ballet companies stimulated their interest in dance.

His elder sister Goh Soo Nee 吴素妮 trained at the Royal Ballet School in London and returned to Singapore to co-found the Singapore Ballet Academy. His elder brother Goh Choo Chiat 吴诸杰 also trained at the Royal Ballet, later became a principal dancer in the Beijing Ballet, and is the artistic director of the Goh Ballet Academy in Vancouver, British Columbia. Another sister, Goh Soo Khim 吴素琴, trained at the Australian Ballet and co-founded Singapore Dance Theatre in 1988.

Education Goh studied at the Nanyang Primary School and proceeded to Raffles Institution. Goh's earliest desire was to become an airline pilot, but his studies in ballet, taught by his sister, Soonee Goh, led him towards his eventual career path as a dancer. At his father's insistence, he first completed his University education and graduated with a degree in Bio-chemistry from the University of Singapore. after first dancing in Lausanne, Switzerland and with the Scarpino Ballet in Amsterdam. The company had a rich blend of classical and contemporary choreography. Goh joined as a member of the corps de ballet and was eventually elevated to soloist with the company during his five years with the company. He excelled in works by the company's resident choreographers, Toer van Schayk and Rudi van Dantzig, as well as in works by Balanchine and Petipa.

While still a dancer with the company, Goh created his first ballets in a workshop environment. These small ballets brought him to the attention of Mary Day, director of the Washington School of Ballet in Washington, DC. Believing in his talent, she offered him a position with her newly founded Washington Ballet in 1976. Goh saw this as a chance to grow along with the pace of the development of the new company and took on the responsibilities of company teacher and resident choreographer at their inception as a professional company. Goh came to the notice of several important artistic directors of dance companies, including the Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Dance Theater of Harlem as word of mouth spread that his talent was producing works of a very high quality.

Goh maintained his work with The Washington Ballet as a primary commitment, creating one or two new works each year in addition to re-staging for them some of the successful ballets he was now creating for other companies. He was given the position of associate director of the company in addition to retaining his title as resident choreographer in 1984.

Death and legacy

In 1987 Goh became seriously ill and after a very brief illness died on 28 November 1987 of an AIDS-related disease, viral colitis, at his home in New York City. His elder brother, Choo Chiat Goh, who founded the Goh Ballet Academy in Vancouver, B.C. His niece (daughter of Choo Chiat Goh), Chan Hon Goh was a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada and the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Washington, D.C. His youngest sister Goh Soo Khim is co-founder and former artistic director of Singapore Dance Theatre, and elder sister Soo Nee Goh taught ballet in Vancouver B.C.