AKRAM KHAN

XENOS

AKRAM KHAN COMPANY

Artistic Director, Choreographer, Performer |Akram Khan
Dramaturg | Ruth Little
Lighting Designer | Michael Hulls
Original Music Score and Sound Design | Vincenzo Lamagna
Set Designer | Mirella Weingarten
Costume Designer | Kimie Nakano
Writer | Jordan Tannahill
Rehearsal Directors | Mavin Khoo & Nicola Monaco
Dancer | Akram Khan
Musicians | Nina Harries, Double bass & Vocals
B C Manjunath Percussions & Konnakol
Tamar Osborn, Barytone Saxophone
Aditya Prakash Vocals
Fra Rustumji Violin

With Akram Khan & 5 musicians on stage
Live music

ABOUT THE SHOW

We are extremely excited to present Akram’s ultime solo, XENOS, which marks his final performances as a dancer in a full-length piece.

In this brand-new work commissioned for the First World War centenary, Akram draws on the archives of the 20th century, and gives voice to the shell-shocked dream of a colonial soldier in the First World War. XENOS reveals the beauty and horror of the human condition in its portrait of an Indian dancer whose skilled body becomes an instrument of war. Akram’s movement language shifts between classical kathak and contemporary dance. XENOS takes place on the border between East and West, past and present, mythology and technology, where humanity still stands in wonder and disarray.

Akram is joined onstage by five international musicians: percussionist B C Manjunath, vocalist Aditya Prakash, bass player Nina Harries, violinist Clarice Rarity, and saxophonist Tamar Osborn.

“Out of all the creations I have been blessed to be involved in, XENOS is the one that I find to be the closest in line with my personal journey as an artist.The themes of reflection, death, rebirth, time, alienation, identity, memory, are all part of this creative process, and together with some incredible collaborators, I have embarked on this challenging journey, to give birth to XENOS. Essentially, this work is a reflection of how I feel about our world today. It is about our loss of humanity, and how, through past and present wars, we are yet again confronted by the burning question of what it is to be human. How can we as humans, have such ability to create extraordinary and beautiful things from our imagination, and equally, our immense ability to create and commit violence and horrors beyond our imagination. Prometheus saw this in mankind before we, as a species, ever recognised it. .” – Akram Khan

Transcendanses is a coproduction between Productions Internationales Albert Sarfati and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées

XENOS is commissioned by 14-18 NOW: WW1 Centenary Art Commissions, supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England, and by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Co-produced by Onassis Cultural Centre – Athens, The Grange Festival Hampshire, Sadler’s Wells London, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Théâtre de la Ville – Paris/La Villette – Paris, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, National Arts Centre Ottawa, The Center for China Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF), Centro Cultural de Belém, Festspielhaus St. Pölten, Grec 2018 Festival de Barcelona, HELLERAU – European Center for the Arts Dresden, Tanz Köln, Edinburgh International Festival, Adelaide Festival, Festival Montpellier Danse 2018, Julidans Amsterdam, Canadian Stage Toronto, Romaeuropa Festival, Torinodanza festival / Teatro Stabile di Torino – Teatro Nazionale, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts New York, University of California Berkeley, Danse Danse Montreal, Curve Leicester, La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand – scène nationale.
Sponsored by COLAS