Two World Premieres and the Return of Olivier Award-Winning DESH: The Year Ahead for Akram Khan Company

• New production iTMOi (in the mind of igor) inspired by Igor Stravinsky to commemorate the centenary of his seminal work, The Rite of Spring, hosted at Sadler’s Wells exactly 100 years after the original work’s premiere in Paris.
• Khan’s work to form a central role in 2013 Stravinsky centenary celebrations around the world
• Akram Khan feature film choreography debut, Desert Dancer, starring Freida Pinto to premiere late 2013
• Olivier Award-winning production DESH returns to Sadler’s Wells after sell-out global tour

Following the global success of Akram Khan Company throughout 2012, winning an Olivier Award for DESH and performing in front of one billion people as part of the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, 2013 that will see the Company breaking through new artistic barriers with one of their biggest productions yet and working in new platforms.

Highlights include:

iTMOi

Sadler’s Wells Theatre: Tuesday 28 May - Saturday 1 June
Akram Khan Company’s first appearance on stage in the UK this year will be at the unveiling of its new production iTMOi (in the mind of igor) – inspired by composer Igor Stravinsky to commemorate the centenary of his seminal work The Rite of Spring. Part of a Stravinsky-led trilogy of works at Sadler’s Wells entitled A String of Rites, iTMOi is central to Stravinsky celebrations around the world and is hosted at Sadler’s Wells exactly 100 years after the original work was premiered in Paris (29 May). The piece will have had his world premiere on 14 May at MC2: Grenoble (France), where Khan is an Associate Artist in a special co-operation with Sadler's Wells.

iTMOi explores the human condition, rooted in the concept of a woman dancing herself to death. With this production Khan has worked for the first time with three different composers and it will feature an original score by Ben Frost, Jocelyn Pook and Nitin Sawhney. The production will also feature a large cast of 11 international dancers.

DESH

Sadler’s Wells Theatre: Tuesday 11 - Saturday 15 June

Described as a “masterpiece” (The Observer), Khan’s Olivier Award-winning solo show will return to Sadler’s Wells in June for a third run after a sell-out world tour (Rome, Melbourne, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Athens and Paris). Meaning “homeland” in Bengali, DESH is one of Khan’s most personal works to date. At once intimate and epic, DESH confronts the power of our personal heritage and celebrates the resilience of the human spirit. The production features collaborations with visual artist Tim Yip (production designer for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), award-winning lighting designer Michael Hulls, writer and poet Karthika Nair, Olivier Award-winning composer Jocelyn Pook and slam poet PolarBear.

Desert Dancer
Scheduled to be premiered during late 2013

Late last year the company announced that Khan would be making his film choreography debut for a highly anticipated big screen production, Desert Dancer, starring actors Freida Pinto, Reece Ritchie and Tom Cullen. Filming has now drawn to a close and is in post-production with a premiere set to take place in late 2013.

Set in Iran, where dance is illegal and punishable by prison, Desert Dancer is inspired by the incredible true story of Afshin Ghaffarian who risks everything to fight for his dreams. The story follows Afshin as he teaches himself how to dance by watching music videos - everything from Michael Jackson and Bob Fosse to Pina Bausch, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. His story plays out against the 2009 protests, when the passion and defiance of a young generation lit the flame of revolution still sweeping the Middle East and North Africa. The film is director Richard Raymond’s debut.

Farooq Chaudhry, Producer, Akram Khan Company, said:

“Performing in the Olympics Opening Ceremony and the success of DESH made 2012 a year that we will never forget. In order to perform in front of a billion people on such a large platform we had to push through artistic boundaries like never before. Perhaps the biggest challenge for us this year is to break down our artistic voice so that we can start afresh, re-inventing what we do so we can keep surprising our audiences and ourselves – anything less would be disappointing! We have got much to look forward to in 2013.”

Notes to Editors


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Akram Khan

Biography

Akram Khan is one of the UK's most celebrated and respected dance artists. In just over a decade he has created a body of work that has contributed significantly to the cultural arts in the UK and abroad. His reputation has been built on the success of imaginative, highly accessible and relevant productions such as DESH, Vertical Road, Gnosis and zero degrees.

An instinctive and natural collaborator, Khan has been a magnet to world-class artists from other cultures and disciplines. His previous collaborators include the National Ballet of China, actress Juliette Binoche, ballerina Sylvie Guillem, choreographer/dancer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, singer Kylie Minogue, visual artists Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley and Tim Yip, writer Hanif Kureishi and composers Steve Reich, Nitin Sawhney and Jocelyn Pook.

Khan’s work is recognised as being profoundly moving, in which his intelligently crafted storytelling is effortlessly intimate and epic. Described by the Financial Times as an artist "who speaks tremendously of tremendous things", a recent highlight of his career was the creation of a section of the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony that was received with unanimous acclaim.

Khan has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout his career including the Laurence Olivier Award, the prestigious ISPA (International Society for the Performing Arts) Distinguished Artist Award, the South Bank Sky Arts Award and the Critics' Circle National Dance Award. Khan was awarded an MBE for services to dance in 2005. He is also an Honorary Graduate of Roehampton and De Montfort Universities, and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Laban.

Khan is an Associate Artist of MC2: Grenoble and Sadler’s Wells, London in a special international co-operation.

Follow Akram Khan on Facebook and Twitter: 

Twitter:  @akramkhanlive

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AkramKhanCompany

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