Akram Khan



In the beginning…
Akram was born in London in 1974. His mother introduced him to Bengali folk dancing and when he was seven she took him and his sister to the celebrated Kathak teacher, Sri Pratap Pawar.

A childhood enriched with dance and drama
Akram toured in his first professional acting role at the age of ten in a production supported by the British Arts Council, The Adventures of Mowgli. In 1988 as a teenager he traveled the world in Sir Peter Brooks’ play for the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Mahabharata. In between these commitments he attended Rutlish High School in Merton Park and studied A-Levels (Bengali and mathematics). He became Pawar’s disciple and in 1992, aged eighteen, gave his debut solo recital (Manch Pravesh) in London. Akram received an Aditi Scholarship for Higher Training in Kathak and in 1994 was awarded the Senior Diploma (First Division), Prayag Sangeet Samati, by the Dance Board of India.

Higher Education - a degree in dance
In 1994 he went to De Montfort University in Leicester to study for a BA (Hons) Performing Arts (Dance). It was his first experience of ballet and contemporary styles. After two years he transferred to the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds, graduating with the highest marks in performance ever awarded. Thus he added classical ballet, Graham, Cunningham, Alexander, release-based techniques, contact improvisation and physical theatre to his dance experiences.

Launching a career as a solo artist
In 1995 he choreographed a short solo, Loose in Flight (subsequently filmed for Channel 4 in 1999) and a Jerwood Choreography Award gave him the opportunity to make Fix. This was a more substantial piece. It had lighting design by Michael Hulls and music by Nitin Sawhney. The unusual style of these dances quickly drew attention from the media and the public.

First Dance Umbrella
In 1996 X – 10 – DED, a mixed bill, was performed for both Woking Dance Umbrella and the main Umbrella Festival at the Cochrane Theatre in London.

The significance of Jonathan Burrows 
In 1999 Akram attended Choreolab, the choreographer’s exchange (supported by Sampad and DanceXchange). He also made several works: Saint; No Male Egos (a duet with Mavin Khoo) performed at the Purcell Room, London; and Desert Steps (a collaboration with Jonathan Burrows) at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. Akram stated that working with Burrows was pivotal in his coming to understand the manner in which the two genres, Kathak and Contemporary, were generating new information in his muscles. He also teamed up with Farooq Chaudhry (currently Akram Khan Company Producer) who encouraged him to go to the X-Group in Brussels.

The X-Group Project
In 2000 a Lisa Ullmann Travelling Scholarship took Akram to study at Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s P.A.R.T.S school in Brussels where he participated in the X-Group project for six months. This is a prestigious choreographic platform for young choreographers to develop their own movement language. He experimented with material using four dancers. This concluded with the presentation of Rush as a work in progress. During this period, he also performed the solo work, Loose in Flight (1995) at British Dance Edition in Newcastle.

Akram Khan Company and Contemporary Kathak 
Rush (2000) became Akram’s first work, a trio, for his own small company. Interest in this new venture was widespread; Rush was funded by Dance Umbrella, Yorkshire Dance Centre, Dance East, Birmingham DanceXChange and Sampad. Michael Hulls again provided the lighting. The company achieved quick success. Akram was winner of a Critics' Circle National Dance Award as "Outstanding Newcomer" for his unique style; the critics having previously come up with the term Contemporary Kathak to describe this. In January of the following year, 2001, Akram was also winner of a Time Out Live Award for best newcomer and was nominated for a South Bank Show Award.

Solo Kathak Artist and Actor
Akram continued to perform Kathak solo recitals which he kept separate from his company work. In 2000 he performed Half and Nine at the Lillian Baylis Theatre, London. In 2001 for his inaugural recital as Choreographer in Residence at the Royal Festival Hall he premiered Polaroid Feet in the Purcell Room. He also acted in Sir Peter Brook’s film of Hamlet.

First full length work
Akram was commissioned by the London Sinfonietta to create Related Rocks (2001). It was a test run for Kaash (2002) his first full length work for his company. This was an ambitious collaboration; Nitin Sawhney again provided music and the internationally renowned artist/sculptor, Anish Kapoor, made the designs. The work was premiered in the Exit Festival Maison des Arts in Creteil. Akram received nominations for a South Bank Show Award (Dance Category) and a Njinsky Award from the Monaco Danses Forum. Kaash was awarded the Best Dance show in France by the magazine Les Inrockuptibles. Akram was also the subject of a full length documentary for ITV’s South Bank Show.

Associate Artist at the Royal Festival Hall
In 2003 Akram made Red or White for Matthew Hart, William Trevitt and Michael Nunn of George Piper Dances. The same year Akram’s tenure as Choreographer in Residence was changed to Associate Artist at the Royal Festival Hall, a two-year appointment and the first time a non-musician has been afforded this status. This has involved two more Kathak performances; Ronin (2003) and third catalogue (2005).

An expanded company
In 2003 Akram collaborated with the writer Hanif Kureishi on a piece, A God of Small Tales, for a group of mature women commissioned by Royal Festival Hall Education. This provided a background experience connecting to his second full-length dance for an expanded company of seven dancers, ma (2004) and is his largest and most ambitious project to date. This also involved text by Hanif Kureishi. One section included Akram performing classical Kathak material and thus incorporating this into his Contemporary Kathak work for the first time. Akram was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts by De Montfort University for his innovative contribution to the UK arts community. He and ma received awards from the Critics' Circle for Best Choreography (modern section) and the International Movimentos Tanzpreis (Berlin) for "Most Promising Newcomer in Dance". In 2004 the company was also made a fixed term client of Arts Council, England. In 2005 ma received a South Bank Show Award.

Cross Cultural Collaboration
Akram is shifting perspective a little, although he still has a commitment to make work for his own company. In 2005 he created a duet with the choreographer/performer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui; zero degrees premiered at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London. What is unusual is the interest in exchanging choreographic information rather than just working within recognised languages. Familiar by now with using text, Akram himself provided this. The collaboration had music by Mercury Award winner Nitin Sawhney and lighting by Mikki Kunttu. The Turner Prize winning sculptor Antony Gormley provided life-size casts of the two dancers thus turning the piece ostensibly into a quartet. The dance was nominated for an Olivier Award (Best New Dance), a Time Out Award and a Critic’s Circle Award (Best Choreography – Modern).

Akram Khan MBE
In 2005 Akram became an associated artist of Sadler’s Wells Theatre and was awarded an MBE for his services to the UK dance community. 

Past Cultural Collaborations
Variations, a collaboration with London Sinfonietta to celebrate the 70th birthday of composer Steve Reich, premiered in Cologne in March 2006. 

Sacred Monsters (2006), a duet with Sylvie Guillem, explores the boundaries between two classical dance forms, Kathak and Ballet and has additional choreography by Lin Hwai Min, Artistic Director of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. In 2007 a reciprocal collaborative arrangement saw Akram working with Cloud Gate: Lost Shadow's which premiered in Taipei, Taiwan.

Akram was invited by Kylie Minogue in summer 2006 to choreograph a section of her new Showgirl concert which opened in Australia in November 2006, and toured to the UK (London and Manchester) in January 2007. 

Present Cross Cultural Collaborations
Akram's recent work In-I (2008) is a collaboration with Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche, visual design by Anish Kapoor and music composition by Philip Sheppard. It premiered in September 2008 at the National Theatre, London and is currently on a major international tour. 

bahok a collaboration with National Ballet of China and composer Nitin Sawhney, was premiered in Beijing in January 2008. It has gained international acclaim on its subsequent world tour. Due to its success, bahok will tour internationally in 2009/2010.

Future Cross Cultural Collaborations
Gnosis (2009) is Akram's latest solo work. Returning to his classical Indian dance roots, Khan brings the opposing worlds of tradition and innovation face-to-face. Accompanied by world-class musicians from India, Japan and UK, this promises to be a technically virtuosic, thought-provoking piece. Gnosis will premiere at Sadler's Wells in November 2009 as part of Svapnagata, a two-week festival of Indian music and dance curated by Khan and composer Nitin Sawhney.

Vertical Road is Akram Khan's latest contemporary ensemble work, and continues his ambition to explore the interface between different cultures and creative disciplines. Khan brings together a host of performers and artist from East and West. This piece will premiere in October 2010 at Sadler's Wells.

An Artistic Journey
Lorna Sanders