"(...)Thomas Vo Van Tao, a disciple of Dr. Neena Prasad, proved that gender is more in the mind of the watcher. (…) the finest part of the performance was that the dancer did not think of himself in gender terms. His body was just an instrument of dance, and never did one get a feeling of a male dancer trying to masquerade as female.
Dancing without a shred of self-consciousnes (...) Thomas began with Cholkettu in Gambhira Nattai set to misrajati triputa talam in homage to Ganapati (…) With the easily swaying body and very expressive, Thomas gave a convincing performance with Neena Prasad providing the nattuvangam (…) Sringar in the pangs of Nayika viraha through a Swati Tirunal composition 'Aliveni endu cheyvu' could be captured in its internalized intensity, this was the final proof of how much with the spirit of Mohiniattam this male dancer from a foreign culture is. A feather in Neena Prasad's cap too!"
Leela Venkataraman (critique de la danse)
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"Neena Prasad, a powerhouse of learning and talent is using her legacy in creating a new one. The world of the male dancer in Mohiniattam, so long thought to be a purely female territory. Her student Thomas Vo Tan Tao is the bearer of this legacy though he is not the first male dancer of Mohiniattam but its first serious professional performer. His performance was in the margam format to showcase (...) how the male body adapts and appears in this purely lyrical style. (...) The graceful and soft yet sweeping body movements of Mohiniattam were a delight. (...) This was followed by a Sthava Varnam of Swathi Thirunal (…) In the second sanchari "Kama manjima haari charurupa," Thomas portrays Kamadeva amusing himself in natural surroundings absorbed narcissistically in his own beauty. However, he is dismayed to find his beauty pale in comparison to Rama. Abhinaya is the main stay of this piece delicately portrayed by the performer."
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Sunita Chowdhurie (critique de la danse)
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"The revelation of the festival were Divya Goswami (Kathak) and Thomas Vo Van Tao (Mohiniattam) who raised the level of their styles with beautiful dancing. (…) Thomas is a French-Vietnamese artiste who displayed a lyrical control over his chosen form and proved that Mohiniattam, when performed with restraint and the right intention, can traverse gender stereotypes. (...) the seated abhinaya for the popular ALIVENI Padam was excellently performed."
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Anita Ratnam (danseuse, éditorialiste)
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"The second evening of the Young Dancers Festival opened with the lyrical Mohiniyattam performance by Thomas Vo Van Tao, the enchanting male dancer from France. Right from the invocatory Cholkettu (...) Thomas captivated the audience with his elegant demeanour and immaculately swaying body movements. The Pada Varnam, a composition of Changanacheri Madhavan Namboothiri in Shankarabharanam set to adi tala was dealt with absolute conviction, with command on both the graceful body movements and convincing abhinaya.(...)"
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Manjari Sinha (musicienne, critique de la musique et de la danse)
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"(...) Thomas has entered a largely female field, since the form is very lilting and swaying. But his very affable smile, his very impressive stage presence and the rhythm in his movements made you concentrate on simply taking pleasure in the performance"
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Shveta Arora (danseuse, éditorialiste)
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