Akram Khan gears up to perform his last solo on an Indian stage

Akram Khan brings ‘Xenos’ to India
| Photo Credit: Akram Khan Company

The ghungroo in Akram Khan’s ‘Xenos’ is not only a rhythm accent, it’s intrinsic to the conflict narrative. When he ties one finish of the strings of ankle bells to his wrists, they change into the chains of a captive soldier. They rework into an ammunition belt when he wraps them round his torso. Kathak and Akram’s cultural identification (a Bangladeshi immigrant within the U.Ok.) are the core of this intense piece that premiered in Athens in 2017 because the epilogue efficiency of the audaciously experimental dancer-choreographer.
After travelling world wide, ‘Xenos’ makes its closing cease in India. It shall be staged on June 24 and 25 on the National Centre for Performing Arts in Mumbai.
Akram has additionally chosen to perform his last present as a soloist on an Indian stage. After all, it was Kathak that set him off on an unbelievable artistic voyage.
‘Xenos’, which in Greek means stranger or foreigner, was created to mark the centenary of WWI. It takes you thru the ache and trauma of over one million Indian troopers who fought for the British empire however have discovered no place in historical past or our reminiscence. Akram performs an Indian dancer, who whereas acting at a marriage is all of a sudden pulled out and thrown into the battlefield. He appears like a stranger within the harsh, barren panorama. Hence, the title ‘Xenos’.
Growing up in Wimbledon, Akram grew to become conscious of the notions of displacement, residence, and identification early on in life. While struggling to come to phrases with them, he discovered refuge in dance, which empowered him to inform tales of these ostracised, othered, or racially abused, and of migrants and victims of conflicts too. Deeply advanced and disturbing topics, Akram discovered to negotiate them with finesse and depth, creating highly effective imagery that resonated with audiences throughout the globe. 
Though he decorates his narratives with Kathak’s dizzying spins and fluid gestures, and dramatic modern actions, pushing his physique to defy all limits, beneath this aesthetic sheath is one thing uncooked and weak.
The first time Akram went up on stage, he realised his physique might categorical all of the issues that he struggled to say. It grew to become his voice. Over the years, he has allowed it to communicate louder and clearer. This weekend, it is going to accomplish that one last time.
Akram talks about what the time period ‘retirement’ means to a dancer and, creating ‘Xenos’, his swansong.

Akram Khan brings alive the tales of Indian troopers who fought in WWI
| Photo Credit:
Jean Louis Fernandez

In an interview with The Hindu in 2018, you had mentioned that in a dancer’s life, there comes a time when the physique tells you to cease. Being Britain’s most celebrated artiste, how troublesome was it to hear to it?
I wished to choreograph a solo to full my profession. Strangely sufficient, barring ‘Desh’, I hadn’t made many full-length modern solos. So to end with ‘Xenos’ felt a bit incomplete, however over time my physique inspired me to retire. More than bodily, it’s the psychological shift that may be a greater problem. You might really feel assured as soon as you’re on the stage, however there’s all the time the worry of messing up as full-length solos are an enormous pressure on the physique.
Ironically, you selected a bodily and mentally exhausting farewell piece.
The door had already opened once I created ‘Dust’ for English National Ballet. And then I used to be invited by an organisation 14-18 NOW to create a bit for the First World War centenary. They urged that I discover some connection to conflict within the solo I used to be making. However, I felt pushed by a number of articles that have been written concerning the conflict through the creation of my solo. Ruth Little, my dramaturg, was sharing archival materials and the tales of the Indian colonial troopers that I had by no means identified about, so I felt duty-bound to carry to mild these unheard tales.

‘Xenos’ combines vigorous Kathak and modern actions
| Photo Credit:
Jean Louis Fernandez

How did you assume you may do that via dance?
Initially, it was about Prometheus, who then grew to become absorbed into the story of this one colonial soldier, who represented all of the troopers. He later grew to become the character that I’d embody. I wished to relate to it and have a private relationship with that character. So we determined to make him a dancer, performing in India for the dignitaries of the empire. This solo just isn’t one particular person’s story despite the fact that it’s carried out by a single dancer. This story belongs to these within the shadows. Anything the place you’ve gotten to immerse your self will all the time be difficult. I consider as an artiste one all the time has to discover the pleasure in drowning.
You are identified to use your artwork to reply to socio-political points. As an artiste what stirs you essentially the most?
What strikes me are the individuals who have one thing to say. Whose tales haven’t been heard. The voice of others has all the time been an necessary a part of my work as a result of I’m the shadow. At least that was true for many of my childhood. And then dance and the stage enabled me to come out of shadows; to confront after which embrace mild. Some of my work is autobiographical, however ‘Giselle’, ‘Until the Lions’ and ‘Xenos’ moved away from autobiography.
John Berger had an enormous affect on me. He mentioned: ‘Never again will a single story be told as if it were the only one.’ That quote actually hit me sooner or later, and I began to examine different individuals’s tales from different views. ‘Until the Lions’ was based mostly on a feminine protagonist. All my earlier works have been not likely political. But this piece was consciously political. ‘Xenos’ was a part of that journey of exploring the political and social world. Art is usually politics’ sweeter tongue.
I’m additionally impressed by issues which might be unconventional to my very own expertise, for instance, new areas, something that challenges my expertise or the parameters that I’m snug in. The 2012 Olympic opening ceremony was precisely that.

Akram Khan at The Theatre des Champs Elysées in Paris
| Photo Credit:
JOEL SAGET

How do you intend to keep related with dance after retiring from full-length productions? As a choreographer, how troublesome or simple is it to share your imaginative and prescient with those that are a part of the Akram Khan Company?
It is about creating a language to give you the chance to talk wholly, holistically, spiritually, and technically what you’re trying to find within the dancers. As I retire, I’ll have the language of phrases, not of the physique, in order that’s an enormous shift.
How do you understand the modifications in viewers response and artistes’ creativity within the post-pandemic world? Is digital intervention coming in the best way of inventive expression?
People have a tendency to get it improper after they assume one thing ought to exchange one thing else. For me, if that occurs then that’s a tragedy as a result of we are able to do each. One provides to the opposite. I’d name it digital addition; it enhances and permits the theatre expertise to develop as a result of lots of people can’t get to the theatre. It’s one other method of connecting, however the theatre is theatre. You can’t exchange that have. That is the oldest and strongest ritual, it awakens the 5 senses.
What would you like to inform dancers who’re eager to bask in modern topics and choreography?
Nothing particular. But what I’d say to all dancers is attempt to seek for silence and stillness. That is essentially the most highly effective dance.