The Ailey School

Fadi J. Khoury’s innovative style – both as dancer and choreographer – showcases his life-long immersion in a world of dance forms. He was born in Baghdad, Iraq, surrounded by the folkloric music and dance of Arab culture. His father, also a dancer and choreographer, was Artistic Director of the National Iraqi Ballet. Through his father, Fadi was exposed to diverse approaches to dance in Mesopotamia, still present in Assyrian, Syriac, and Bedouin folkloric dances of the Middle East. When Fadi was thirteen, he moved to Beirut, Lebanon, where he trained in classical ballet and folkloric dance, as well as in Modern, Jazz, and Ballroom. Still in his teens, he began experimenting with the eclecticism that has defined his work ever since. By seventeen, he was dancing professionally with the Rahbani Musical Theatre, while studying at the Lebanese Fine Arts University. In 2005, Fadi joined the Caracalla Dance Theatre, touring the Middle East and North Africa.

Fadi moved to the United States in 2009 and performed with Caracalla at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.  He was awarded a scholarship to further his ballet and modern dance training at The Ailey School in New York City. There he collaborated with distinguished choreographers such as Gary Pierce, Earl Mosley, Elisa Monte, Venti Petrov and Edward Simon. He also toured the U.S. and Latin America with NY2Dance, and performed Nejla Yatkin’s dance theatre pieces, “Oasis” and “Wall”.  Fadi’s multi-cultural background, versatility, and passion for dance allowed him to establish a career in Ballroom as a lead instructor, dancer and choreographer at the Arthur Murray Dance Center in New York City.  From 2009 – 2013, he placed first in the Top Teacher awards from Arthur Murray International.

Though Fadi had assimilated several dance forms, he was not at home in any of them.  In 2014, inspired by a successful collaboration with Sevin Ceviker, he created his own company, FJK Dance, where he could continue to refine his distinct, personal style. Every FJK Dance performance reflects his unique mix of experiences, unlike anyone else’s in the current dance scene and still exuberantly evolving. On December 20, 2015, Fadi was awarded a grant by the Charles and Joan Gross Family Foundation commissioning the composition of original music score by Peter Michael von der Nahmer an internationally recognized composer for Reflection, a multimedia piece which will debut in April, 2016. In view of the criteria set out in the Foundation’s guidelines (citing in particular “cross cultural” works), this award underscores both Fadi's artistic achievements and broad cultural aspirations.