Celebrated choreographer-performer Akram Khan — an Ottawa favourite — performs his phenomenal new full-length solo DESH at the National Arts Centre on November 14-15-16

After five years of collaborations with internationally renowned artists, celebrated choreographer-performer Akram Khan reconnects with his cultural roots in DESH, meaning “homeland” in Bengali. For this new full-length dance solo, inspired by his parents’ homeland of Bangladesh, Khan collaborates with Oscar-winning visual designer Tim Yip (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), award-winning lighting designer Michael Hulls, writer and poet Karthika Nair, and Olivier Award winning composer Jocelyn Pook. Moving between Britain and Bangladesh, Khan weaves threads of memory, experience, and myth into a surreal world of surprising connection. His search for identity is intimate and epic, magical and moving. Akram Khan performs DESH in the Theatre of the National Arts Centre on Thursday November 14, Friday November 15, and Saturday November 16 at 7:30 p.m.

 

DESH draws multiple tales of land, nation, resistance, and convergence into the body and voice of one man trying to find his balance in an unstable world. This contemporary solo conceived and performed by Akram Khan is his most mesmerizing work to date, hailed by critics as a masterpiece, the most urgent, beautiful, and confident work of his career. This intensely personal journey finds Khan transforming himself with miraculous shape-shifting eloquence, the gap between generations and cultures brilliantly evoked. Guilt, comedy, anger, and tenderness are vivid. DESH is full of sublime images, evoking the monumental loneliness of Akram Khan’s journey backwards, as well as its heroism. His dancing is mercurial, seemingly boneless, seamless, with new power and precision. DESH explores fragility in the face of natural forces, and celebrates the resilience of the human spirit. Audaciously theatrical video imagery adds layers of depth and meaning to a vivid exploration of collective past and personal present. DESH is both dream and story, a tale of transformation and survival.

 

DESH was the winner of the UK’s 2012 Olivier Award for ‘Best New Dance Production’ and the 2012 Theatrical Management Association Theatre Award for ‘Achievement in Dance’.
 

Founded in 2000 by choreographer Akram Khan and producer Farooq Chaudhry, Akram Khan Company journeys across boundaries to create uncompromising artistic narratives. Having established itself as one of the world’s most innovative dance companies, the company is renowned for its intercultural, interdisciplinary collaborations and for challenging conventional ideas of traditional dance forms. The dance language in each production is rooted in Akram Khan’s classical Indian Kathak and modern dance training, and continually evolves to communicate ideas that are intelligent, courageous, and new, bringing with it international acclaim and recognition, as well as artistic and commercial success. Akram Khan takes human themes and works with others — embracing and collaborating with other cultures and disciplines — to take them to new and unexpected places.

DESH (2011)
DIRECTION, CHOREOGRAPHY, and PERFORMANCE Akram Khan
VISUAL DESIGN Tim Yip
MUSIC COMPOSITION Jocelyn Pook

LIGHTING DESIGN Michael Hulls
STORIES IMAGINED BY Karthika Nair and Akram Khan

VISUAL ANIMATION Yeast Culture

SOUND DESIGN Nicholas Faure

COSTUME SUPERVISOR Kimie Nakano

DURATION 80 minutes, no intermission

 

 

In this master class, Khan shares his experience of using spoken word in his choreography. Participants will gain an insight into his use of multiple narratives to help develop powerful choreography between spoken words and the language of the body, through the exploration of rhythm patterns, visual imagery and traditional dance forms. 

 

Saturday, November 16, 2013 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Rehearsal Hall B, NAC, 53 Elgin Street, Ottawa (enter by Stage Door)
Cost: $25 payable on site

 

The class is for pre-professional-advanced level ballet/modern students and dancers (aged 16 and up). For dance teachers: observation is subject to availability. As space is limited, you MUST REGISTER IN ADVANCE with Kirsten Andersen, Dance Outreach Coordinator, email: kirsten.andersen@nac-cna.ca.

 

 

Akram Khan performs DESH in the Theatre of the National Arts Centre on Thursday November 14, Friday November 15, and Saturday November 16 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $39, $48, and $52 for adults and $21, $25.50, and $27.50 for students (upon presentation of a valid student ID card).

 

Groups of 10 or more save 15% to 20% off regular ticket prices; to reserve your seats, call 613 947-7000,

ext. 634 or e-mail grp@nac-cna.ca.

 

Tickets are available for purchase:

• In person at the NAC Box Office

• At all Ticketmaster outlets

• By telephone from Ticketmaster, 1-888-991-2787 (ARTS)

• Online through the Ticketmaster link on the NAC’s website (http://www.nac-cna.ca)

• A service charge applies on all purchases made through Ticketmaster