Dancing to the body’s ‘instinct’
«Knowing doesn’t mean anything, but imagining is everything,» says choreographer Akram Khan. The distinguished British artist will meet the music of great composer Steve Reich at the stage of the Athens Concert Hall’s Alexandra Trianti Hall tonight in a unique concert and performance. Khan’s company will be presenting its latest work, a collaboration with Reich, which is part of the celebrations for the composer’s 70th birthday. At the Athens Concert Hall, the London Sinfonietta, under the baton of Brad Lubman, will interpret Reich’s Variations for Vibes, Pianos and Strings, along with his older works «Different Trains» and Sextet for Percussion, Piano and Synthesizers. Kathimerini caught up with the British choreographer a few days prior to tonight’s performance. Could you tell us a little bit about the performance? It is a piece I choreographed together with Steve Reich. We are three dancers – a Korean, a South African and myself – and we were looking for a story. In the end we discovered that the story was not as important as its connections and angles: the angles of our bodies, our movements, the angles of the space and of our story. In the choreography, the music becomes one with movement. The music becomes movement and the movement music. When did you get involved with Steve Reich’s compositions? I first became interested in Steve Reich’s music in 1990, when I listened to some of his work. From that moment on, I felt a strong bond with his music and I am very excited to be working with an artist of his standing. What is it that inspires you as an artist? What is more important for me is the moment when the inspiration takes place, which is when I feel very vulnerable and when I am close to hitting rock bottom. That is when I find the strength to improve things and to find ways to express myself. That strength, that motive is hope. What else interests you other than dance and choreography? I don’t have the time (for anything else). For the past five years, everything has been work and passion. Even when I am talking to my wife or watching a film with my friends, my body registers and absorbs, and everything becomes part of my job in a very subtle way. Are you concerned about the audience’s views of your work? Of course I am; we all are and anyone who claims not to be is pretending. In what way can dance unite different people, races and cultures? Is that part of your work? I don’t think that dance can break up the differences and unite the world. It can give the feeling of unity and hope for a few moments, but the world has become complicated. We cannot control it any more. How do you connect Kathak dance with modern dance and where has this research led you to? They are not connected. Kathak principles are a starting point for a journey outside Kathak. There is a chaos in my body, which I could say is my language. The body is extremely powerful and also has the ability to make its own decisions. When I am choreographing, I don’t just say «let’s try a new move,» but I let my body function through its «instinct.» I create through improvisation. After teaching my dancers the principles and steps of traditional Indian dance (Kathak), I let them free to improvise. Everyone will give different interpretations. I cannot think logically about dance. For me, dance is the clarity that exists in the midst of chaos. Dance exists in contradiction. Athens Concert Hall, 1 Kokkali & Vas. Sofias, tel 210.728.2333. For more information go to www.megaron.gr. This interview was translated from the Greek text. A marriage of cultures and styles «It is a blessing for me and my work to have a group which combines such different cultures, experiences and voices.» Akram Khan, a Muslim of Bengali descent, was born in England. He was taught the Kathak dance tradition, which goes back more than 500 years, at the Academy of Indian Dance under the guidance of famous guru Sri Pratap Pawar, and is a graduate of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. From early on, he danced for inspired artists, like Ravi Shankar and Peter Brook. In 2000 he received an award from the Critic’s Circle Dance Awards and in 2001 he won the Time Out Live Award for Dance. In August 2000, he founded the Akram Khan Dance Company, which explores the relationship between Western contemporary dance techniques and the traditional Kathak dance form from Southeast Asia. The creative emphasis is put on the structural and mathematical elements which are distinctive to each dance style; the aim is to develop a new set of movements, which Khan describes as «modern Kathak.» Khan is collaborating with some of the most talented composers, lights experts and dancers working in Britain and abroad today. Along with his group, he tries to bring together different cultures, experiences and points of view. «My work reflects what I am today,» he says, meaning a state of chaos «where limits are obliterated, our roots are left behind and it is our personal experiences which come to the forefront, so as to create new boundaries and a new international language, for all of us.»
