There is strobe light, smoke and loud sound in the performance.
Akram Khan, one of the UK’s most innovative and influential dance talents, returns to Trafo with his latest full scale contemporary ensemble work, Vertical Road. In this new work Khan draws inspiration from universal myths of angels that symbolise 'ascension' - the road between the earthly and the spiritual, the Vertical Road. Visually inspiring and spiritually profound, this performance draws on the performers’ different cultural interpretation of the human odyssey. In Akram Khan’s words: "in a world moving so fast, with the growth of technology and information, I am somehow inclined to move against this current, in search of what it might mean to be connected not just spiritually, but also vertically".
„Vertical Road is the most extended and yet the most concentrated dance piece Akram Khan has made in a long time, and much of it represents a compelling return to form. The choreography gathers the eight dancers into churning vortices of movement, accentuated by pale lights and shadows. It tosses performers through the air on wild impulses of flight, unnerving in their boldness. The dance is beautiful and harrowing, and, for the first half, draws us into a strange, potent world of memory and self-discovery…” (The Guardian)
Akram Khan is one of the most acclaimed choreographers of his generation working in Britain today. Born in London into a family of Bangladeshi origin, he began dancing at seven and studied with the renowned kathak dancer and teacher Sri Pratap Pawar.
After studying contemporary dance and working on the X-Group project with Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker in Brussels, he presented his first solo works in the late 1990s, maintaining his commitment to classical kathak as well as developing modern work. He was Choreographer-in-Residence and later Associate Artist at the Southbank Centre London. Khan is currently an Associate Artist of MC2: Grenoble and Sadler's Wells, London in a special international co-operation.
DESH (2011), Khan's first full-length contemporary solo, is a part-autobiographical work which is at once intimate yet epic. Khan's latest contemporary ensemble work Vertical Road (2010) and recent creation Gnosis (2009), where he combined his classical Indian and contemporary dance roots, received critical acclaim and continue to tour worldwide.
Khan's notable company works are bahok (2008), originally produced in collaboration with National Ballet of China; Variations (2006), a production with London Sinfonietta in celebration of Steve Reich’s 70th birthday; ma (2004), with text by Hanif Kureishi; Kaash (2002), a collaboration with artist Anish Kapoor and composer Nitin Sawhney.
Besides his company work, Khan also created duets: In-I (2008) with Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche, Sacred Monsters (2006) with internationally acclaimed dancer Sylvie Guillem, and award-winning zero degrees (2005) with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui in collaboration with Antony Gormley and Nitin Sawhney.
In 2006 Khan was invited by Kylie Minogue to choreograph a section of her Showgirl concert, which opened in Australia in November that year.
Khan has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout his career including the prestigious ISPA (International Society for the Performing Arts) Distinguished Artist Award in New York (2011), the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Dance (2011, Gnosis) in the UK and The Age Critics’ Award for Best New Work (2010, Vertical Road) at the Melbourne Arts Festival. He was awarded an MBE for services to dance in 2005 and received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Roehampton and De Montfort Universities.
Photo: Laurent Ziegler
’I met Akram Khan before I had ever actually seen his work. We both spoke of the paths
we had taken, of our lives, and of the meaning, the value of the social link created by
Roads. He explained to me the role of the human body as he sees it – a vector of
communication, cultural memory and personal history. And, then, both of us began to see
that our two worlds obviously shared the idea of forming links between people and
peoples.
From the confrontation of our ideas on Diversity emerged a common image: the Vertical
Road.
That is also how this partnership came to be.’ (Hervé Le Bouc, Chairman and CEO of COLAS)
Akram Khan, one of the UK’s most innovative and influential dance talents, returns to Trafo with his latest full scale contemporary ensemble work, Vertical Road. In this new work Khan draws inspiration from universal myths of angels that symbolise 'ascension' - the road between the earthly and the spiritual, the Vertical Road. Visually inspiring and spiritually profound, this performance draws on the performers’ different cultural interpretation of the human odyssey. In Akram Khan’s words: "in a world moving so fast, with the growth of technology and information, I am somehow inclined to move against this current, in search of what it might mean to be connected not just spiritually, but also vertically".
„Vertical Road is the most extended and yet the most concentrated dance piece Akram Khan has made in a long time, and much of it represents a compelling return to form. The choreography gathers the eight dancers into churning vortices of movement, accentuated by pale lights and shadows. It tosses performers through the air on wild impulses of flight, unnerving in their boldness. The dance is beautiful and harrowing, and, for the first half, draws us into a strange, potent world of memory and self-discovery…” (The Guardian)
Akram Khan is one of the most acclaimed choreographers of his generation working in Britain today. Born in London into a family of Bangladeshi origin, he began dancing at seven and studied with the renowned kathak dancer and teacher Sri Pratap Pawar.
After studying contemporary dance and working on the X-Group project with Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker in Brussels, he presented his first solo works in the late 1990s, maintaining his commitment to classical kathak as well as developing modern work. He was Choreographer-in-Residence and later Associate Artist at the Southbank Centre London. Khan is currently an Associate Artist of MC2: Grenoble and Sadler's Wells, London in a special international co-operation.
DESH (2011), Khan's first full-length contemporary solo, is a part-autobiographical work which is at once intimate yet epic. Khan's latest contemporary ensemble work Vertical Road (2010) and recent creation Gnosis (2009), where he combined his classical Indian and contemporary dance roots, received critical acclaim and continue to tour worldwide.
Khan's notable company works are bahok (2008), originally produced in collaboration with National Ballet of China; Variations (2006), a production with London Sinfonietta in celebration of Steve Reich’s 70th birthday; ma (2004), with text by Hanif Kureishi; Kaash (2002), a collaboration with artist Anish Kapoor and composer Nitin Sawhney.
Besides his company work, Khan also created duets: In-I (2008) with Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche, Sacred Monsters (2006) with internationally acclaimed dancer Sylvie Guillem, and award-winning zero degrees (2005) with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui in collaboration with Antony Gormley and Nitin Sawhney.
In 2006 Khan was invited by Kylie Minogue to choreograph a section of her Showgirl concert, which opened in Australia in November that year.
Khan has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout his career including the prestigious ISPA (International Society for the Performing Arts) Distinguished Artist Award in New York (2011), the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Dance (2011, Gnosis) in the UK and The Age Critics’ Award for Best New Work (2010, Vertical Road) at the Melbourne Arts Festival. He was awarded an MBE for services to dance in 2005 and received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Roehampton and De Montfort Universities.
Photo: Laurent Ziegler
’I met Akram Khan before I had ever actually seen his work. We both spoke of the paths
we had taken, of our lives, and of the meaning, the value of the social link created by
Roads. He explained to me the role of the human body as he sees it – a vector of
communication, cultural memory and personal history. And, then, both of us began to see
that our two worlds obviously shared the idea of forming links between people and
peoples.
From the confrontation of our ideas on Diversity emerged a common image: the Vertical
Road.
That is also how this partnership came to be.’ (Hervé Le Bouc, Chairman and CEO of COLAS)
