BOSTON BALLET
Direction Mikko Nissinen
ALEXANDER EKMAN / AKRAM KHAN
Cacti
Alexander Ekman | choreography, set design, costumes
Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert ‘The Maiden and Death’ (arranged and orchestrated by Andy Stein) | music
Anduin Quartet | live music
Tom Visser | lighting and set design
Spenser Theberge | text
Joseph Kudra | staging
Created on 25 February 2010 at NDT 2, The Hague
Premiered by the Boston Ballet on 8 May 2014 at the Boston Opera House
Cacti is a coproduction between Boston Ballet, Ballet national du Canada and Atlanta Ballet
Live music performed by the Anduin Quartet
—
Vertical Road (reimagined) 2023
Akram Khan | artistic direction, choreography
Aditya Prakash (Foretelling, Prologue), Nitin Sawhney (Vertical Road, group piece) | music
Jesper Kongshaug | original lighting design
Richard Fagan | lighting Recreation
Kimie Nakano | costume design
Ruth Little | dramaturgy
Akram Khan, Kimie Nakano, Jesper Kongshaug | set design
Anjuli Cirio, John Lam | staging
Created on October 5, 2023, at the Citizens Opera House de Boston
Recorded music
Running time: approximately 1 hour 40 minutes, including one intermission
TranscenDanses is a co-production Productions Internationales Albert Sarfati | Théâtre des Champs- Élysées
SATURDAY 10 OCTOBER 2026 | 2:30 PM & 7:30 PM
SUNDAY 11 OCTOBER 2026 | 4:00 PM
from 15€ to 95€ | Orchestra Premium tickets: 110€
Prices for under-16s in categories 1 to 4 : €25, €30, €40, €47 – on Saturday 10 October at 2.30 pm only
* reduced visibility
VONY SARFATI
Directrice département productions
vsarfati@productions-sarfati.fr
ÉLODIE DESSERTENNE
Coordinator, Production Department
egalin@productions-sarfati.fr
ISABELLE DEVILLE
Communication & Marketing Manager
ideville@productions-sarfati.fr
ABOUT THE SHOW
Boston Ballet brings together two leading figures of contemporary dance, Alexander Ekman and Akram Khan, for an evening that pairs two signature works from their repertoires, moving from sharp wit to meditative depth.
Founded in 1963, Boston Ballet ranks among today’s leading international dance companies. The American troupe has built an exceptionally rich repertoire, combining the great ballet classics with works by some of the most influential contemporary choreographers. Returning to the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, it places its remarkable virtuosity at the service of two of the most distinctive choreographic voices of their generation.
The programme opens with Cacti, one of Alexander Ekman’s signature works. Introduced to Paris audiences through TranscenDanses with his spectacular A Swan Lake, the Swedish choreographer has established himself as one of the most sought-after artists on the international dance scene. A regular guest of the world’s leading companies, he has developed a singular universe combining humour, inventiveness and reflection. Created in 2010 for Nederlands Dans Theater 2, Cacti playfully questions our relationship with contemporary art and with those who claim to explain it. Sixteen dancers and a string quartet engage in a fascinating interplay of rhythms, synchronisation and disruption, blending collective energy, mechanical precision and exuberant irony.
A major figure in contemporary dance, Akram Khan has forged a distinctive choreographic language at the crossroads of Indian kathak and Western contemporary dance. His artistic universe, deeply human and spiritual, explores questions of identity, memory and transmission. Inspired by Sufi tradition and the poetry of Rumi, Vertical Road, set to music by Nitin Sawhney, unfolds as a choreographic meditation on inner quest, ritual and transformation. Combining physical intensity with introspection, Khan creates a hypnotic work in which movement becomes the language of the soul.
Two powerful artistic signatures, each with an instantly recognisable world of its own, brought vividly to life by the excellence of Boston Ballet.
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