The dancing’s great—twitchy, galvanic, exhilarating.

—The Guardian (UK)

Program

bahok

About This Performance

San Francisco Performances and YBCA join together to present celebrated Bangladeshi-British choreographer Akram Khan, who brings Bahok to San Francisco. Named after a Bengali word meaning ‘carrier’, bahok explores the ways in which the body carries national identity and a sense of belonging. Eight dancers from diverse cultures, traditions and dance backgrounds – Chinese, Korean, Indian, Slovakian, South African and Spanish – act out their attempts to communicate through dramatic dance and spoken vocabulary as they wait out their airport limbo, their destination unknown. Khan joins forces with long-time musical collaborator Nitin Sawhney, renowned for his multi award-winning compositions, who has created an original score for bahok. Originally a collaboration between the Akram Khan Company and the National Ballet of China, bahok is dance and storytelling inspired by the exploration of cultural identity in a globalised world.

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artist biography

Akram Khan 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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).

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. This same year saw a continuation of the collaboration approach. Akram collaborated with London Sinfonietta in Variations to celebrate the 70th birthday of composer Steve Reich, which 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 was 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 tours to the UK (London and Manchester) in January 2007.

Akram latest work In-I 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, and is currently on a major international tour.

bahok, originally a collaboration with the 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 is touring internationally in 2009/2010.