Then I embellish it and put form to it . As a choreographer, Khan has developed a close collaboration with English National Ballet and its Artistic Director Tamara Rojo. Point: One of the influences of Khan's movement and choreographic styles is collaboration. For me, it's an inspiration and direction, but you make your own choices, not someone else." It was to be a moment that would define both our careers. He began his stage career in the Adventures of Mowgli tour 1984–1985 produced by the Academy of Indian Dance, now Akademi South Asian Dance. Kathak (meaning storyteller) grew from ancient, peripatetic bards interpreting the mythological tales of the Indian epics. But my body started to change, and it influenced my mind." tales of land, nation, resistance and convergence into the body and voice of Classically trained in the north Indian dance form of kathak, he had his first big break aged 14, touring the world with Peter Brook's Mahabharata. Akram Khan and Sylvie Guillem in Sacred Monsters. He became a spellbinding soloist in the 1990s, in both classical recitals and his unique brand of kathak-inflected contemporary dance. Maria Roberts talks to the choreographer about his career, Bangladeshi influences, creative practice and his perspective on race, equality and diversity. Simply put, it tells of the rivalry between two great families: the warrior Bheeshma (Khan) abducts the princess Amba thus rendering her unmarriageable. . "When I put my bells on there's a sense of spirituality, which is important to me. He intentionally strives to be diverse and the result is an interesting mesh of all the things they each bring to the table. It made him reflect: "I'd like to take more time making work. in the face of natural forces, and celebrates the resilience of the human He is beginning to "accept stillness – it's a fear dancers have. And that is to dance my ideas ", He has classical roots in common with Michael Clark, the Royal Ballet prodigy turned punk choreographer. Akram Khan was born in 1974, and while many world events affected him through his lifetime, much of his inspiration for choreography comes from a broader, more humanistic approach. Then the run-through resumed. ", I've never seen Akram Khan's work prior to this blog, however I have become a fan! Gnosis, which premiered earlier this year and was based on a Mahabharata tale of a blindfolded queen, grew into a Kabuki-inspired mother-son duet with the Japanese taiko drummer and dancer Yoshi Sunahata. way that these current events reflect and affect humanity. That expectation is going to cripple artists', Akram Khan. The Company has a major international presence and enjoys busy tours that reach out to many cultures and peoples across the … His father, from East Pakistan, was a student in Britain in the 1960s then returned to London with his wife after Bangladesh's independence in 1971. At that time we had no idea where it would lead, but my instincts told me it would be daring and exciting. It's like an outdoor Indian festival," he says. "I love everything Japanese," Khan says. His parents live one street away, and his sister, an accountant, moved back to the area with her husband, a percussionist who plays with Sawhney. Akram Khan leads one of Britain’s most exciting contemporary dance companies. "It's not that I just use their bodies as a tool. Akram Khan Company (AKC) staff already recced five cities of India and returned empty handed as none of the venues matched the requirements. "The intelligence of dance is far superior to intellectualism – the body is more honest and direct," he says. It involves "different stages of a traveller's life going through his memories in order to prepare for life after death". He opened a restaurant in Wimbledon where Khan helped out. Pakistan’s testing of nuclear weapons in 1998, as well as the rapid growth of ", His new work Vertical Road, his largest ensemble work to date (in which he is not dancing), was described by the Guardian's dance critic, Judith Mackrell, as "viscerally thrilling" when it premiered at Curve earlier this month. In the piece, dancers grasp and grapple with tomes. He is amazing. "A dancer talks with his body," he said to an expectant full house at Sadler's Wells theatre in London. At Svapnagata, he said the ritual fastening of his ankle bells distinguishes his classical work. ", Zero Degrees, in which Khan's dancer was harassed by border guards and found himself sharing a train carriage with a corpse, premiered in London within days of 7 July 2005. Audiences for contemporary dance have grown in the past decade; the demands on Khan are driven by his success. "I didn't want to, because nobody would sit and watch. Shifting from Hindu temples to Mughal courts, it gained Islamic influences, emerging as a classical art after the Raj. I read about Ramanujan, about science and spirituality." must have influenced him, even in his youth. An ancestor of Spanish flamenco, it uses lightning-fast spins punctuated by statuesque stillness, fluid arm movements and rhythmically controlled foot-stamping with percussive ankle bells. Pulse: 'Akram Khan - Creativity From Chaos' by Donald Hutera (27 Mar 2013) In 2011 came Desh , an epic autobiographical solo that many greeted as one of Khan’s finest work to date. Khan has, though, riled some traditionalists. He was born in London in 1974 into a Bengali background. Here is a video of Khan discussing his London influences at the Olivier Awards in 2012. "When I shaved my hair off, there was a huge backlash; they said, 'you're disrespecting'. There's a paranoia." People were talking and my mother said 'if you can win this audience, this is the test'. That expectation is going to cripple artists. "I suddenly became aware of my own colour and the way I was looked at, carrying a bag on a train. In his choreographed pieces, Khan fuses this deeply traditional art form with the innovative flair of contemporary performance. Baby Boober is the result of the end of World War II, when birth rates across the world spiked. That's usually a year, then it's inherent in your bloodstream. My parents recreated their culture in a foreign land. By his own reckoning, Khan has less than 10 years left as a dancer. Born in London to a Bangladeshi family, Khan received training in the Kathak style of classical Indian dance, in which rhythm and movement cohere into narrative. I was stuck in my classical body. Discover what happened on this day. Yet for Khan, "it's presenting narrative in another way: less literal, more visual – more visceral. I was at a dress rehearsal in Leicester's Curve theatre of the new ensemble work by Akram Khan, now one of Britain's most feted dancer-choreographers, when a male dancer faltered, peering at the boards, and announced: "There's a lot of blood." I know what I want when I find it. In kathak, he says, the male dancer reflects the icon Krishna, with long hair. It's not abstract." Akram Kahn - Vertical Road. For the artist Anish Kapoor, another collaborator, Khan has a "great stage presence and an interesting trajectory. The test '. Michael Keegan Dolan, Fabulous Beast dance theatre and the spiritual, and got. Their wedding in 2005 was a startling reminder of the Baby boomers generation '' in Alexandra Palace s exciting. Fear – which can be difficult but inspiring. presenting narrative in another way: literal. 'S original score, and contemporary is me in search of the and! 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