Akram Khan Company and Curve present
Vertical Road
Tuesday 14 – Saturday 18 September 2010
World Premiere Press Performance: Thursday 16 September 2010, 7 pm
Following the sell-out success of IN-I in 2009, Akram Khan Company returns to Curve to co-produce their latest contemporary dance production, VERTICAL ROAD. Rehearsed during a six week residency in Leicester, VERTICAL ROAD will receive its World Premiere at Curve in September before embarking on a limited UK tour.
Khan has assembled a cast of exceptional performers from across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. With a specially commissioned score by long-term collaborator composer, Nitin Sawhney, VERTICAL ROAD draws inspiration from universal myths of angels that symbolise ‘ascension’.
In his first ensemble work since the critically-acclaimed BAHOK which premiered in 2008, VERTICAL ROAD sees Akram Khan returning to pure movement in his choreography, eliminating the text and dialogue which has featured in recent works such as IN-I and ZERO DEGREES. Rooted in his classical kathak training, but informed by his experience and virtuosity in contemporary dance, VERTICAL ROAD will also have strong Middle Eastern influences, and continues Khan’s interest in exploring the interface between different cultures and creative disciplines. Lighting and costume will take on greater importance in this piece compared to recent works and Khan is working with Danish lighting designer Jesper Konshaug and Japanese costume designer Kimie Nakano on these aspects of the production.
VERTICAL ROAD is inspired by the idea of vertical ascension – a common motif in several different religions, as well as arts and literature. The production will explore the performers’ different cultural interpretation of the human odyssey - the road between the earthly and the spiritual.
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 will explore these ideas in a major new production of contemporary dance, choreographed by Khan and performed by eight hand-picked dancers from around the world. Akram Khan Company will be devising and rehearsing this new work during a six week residency at Curve, utilising the state-of-the-art rehearsal facilities. The company will also be running exciting dance workshops while in Leicester.
October will mark the 10th anniversary of Akram Khan Company. Since it was founded in 2000, the company has established a worldwide reputation for work that is powerful, bold, fresh, relevant and profoundly moving. A classicist and a modernist, Khan’s work often has an uncanny ability to reflect our times and in the past ten years he has reinvigorated perceptions of dance, other art forms and cultures.
