Akram Khan Company is led by award-winning choreographer Akram Khan. The company creates bold and challenging dance that fuses the classical traditions of Kathak with contemporary dance. It runs a global touring programme and also provides training and development opportunities for company artists. Our funding supports core costs.
DESH is a new full-length contemporary solo and the most personal work to date from celebrated choreographer and performer, Akram Khan. DESH meaning 'homeland' in Bengali, draws multiple tales of land, nation, resistance and convergence into the body and voice of one man trying to find his balance in an unstable world.
Moving between Britain and Bangladesh, Khan weaves threads of memory, experience and myth into a surreal world of surprising connection. At once intimate and epic, DESH explores fragility in the face of natural forces, and celebrates the resilience of the human spirit in the rhythms of labour, in dream and story, and in transformation and survival.
For this production, Khan teams up with Oscar-winning visual artist Tim Yip (Production Designer for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), fellow Sadler's Wells Associate Artist lighting designer Michael Hulls, writer and poet Karthika Nair and Olivier award-winning composer Jocelyn Pook.
'Those transparent Dacca gauzes
known as woven air, running
water, evening dew.' (Agha Shahid Ali)
DESH is a new full-length contemporary solo and the most personal work to date from celebrated choreographer and performer, Akram Khan. DESH meaning 'homeland' in Bengali, draws multiple tales of land, nation, resistance and convergence into the body and voice of one man trying to find his balance in an unstable world.
Moving between Britain and Bangladesh, Khan weaves threads of memory, experience and myth into a surreal world of surprising connection. At once intimate and epic, DESH explores fragility in the face of natural forces, and celebrates the resilience of the human spirit in the rhythms of labour, in dream and story, and in transformation and survival.
For this production, Khan teams up with Oscar-winning visual artist Tim Yip (Production Designer for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), fellow Sadler's Wells Associate Artist lighting designer Michael Hulls, writer and poet Karthika Nair and Olivier award-winning composer Jocelyn Pook.
DESH trailer by Moonspun Films Limited.
World premiere: 15 Sept 2011, Curve Theatre, Leicester
London premiere: 4 Oct 2011, Sadler's Wells, London
DESH (homeland) is a new full length contemporary solo from celebrated choreographer and performer, Akram Khan, inspired by his homeland of Bangladesh. After critically acclaimed collaborations with artists including Sylvie Guillem, Anish Kapoor and Antony Gormley, DESH is set to be one of Khan's most personal works, as he seeks to reconnect with his cultural roots.
Reflecting on life in Bangladesh, Khan will portray several characters familiar in daily Bangladeshi culture through his own body and voice. For this solo performance, he teams up with Oscar-winning visual artist Tim Yip (Production Designer for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), fellow Sadler's Wells Associate Artist lighting designer Michael Hulls, writer and poet Karthika Nair and Olivier award-winning composer Jocelyn Pook.
DESH will explore the idea of transformation -- of body, land, identity and memory, while examining the contradictions of Khan's own British -- Asian identity. In Khan's own words: "I am searching for a story that addresses both the tragedy and comedy of life in Bangladesh."
'Those transparent Dacca gauzes
known as woven air, running
water, evening dew.' (Agha Shahid Ali)
Vertical Road is Akram Khan's latest contemporary ensemble work. Khan has assembled a cast of very special performers from across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. With a specially commissioned score by long-term collaborator composer, Nitin Sawhney, Vertical Road draws inspiration from the Sufi tradition and the Persian poet and philosopher Rumi. Exploring man's earthly nature, his rituals and the consequences of human actions, Vertical Road becomes a meditation on the journey from gravity to grace.
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DESH trailer, Akram Khan Company
The Six Seasons - DESH documentary, Akram Khan
Vertical Road, Akram Khan Company, 3 min excerpt
