When British-born dancer Akram Khan started working on DESH, his new solo show, he thought it was going to be about his mother. As he started putting together the innovative piece, however, he discovered that it was really a celebration of his father, who had told him numerous stories when he was a child that were taken from his homeland of Bangladesh.
“(My mother) was the one who was always pushing Bangladeshi culture on me as a child, and I always felt closest to her,” recounts Khan in a recent interview. “It’s only when we were halfway through the work that I realized it was really all about my father.”
Influenced by his parents’ native country of Bangladesh – DESH means “homeland” in Bengali – Khan’s new piece is rich in storytelling, reflecting the tales that he heard as a child. When the show debuted in 2011 at the Curve Theatre in Leicester, England, The Guardian newspaper called it a masterpiece.
The idea behind the performance is the story of a man whose father has died. When he was a young boy, the man didn’t listen to the numerous tales that his dad told him. Now that his father is dead, he regrets not having paid more attention to him. The show can therefore be seen as a conversation that the protagonist would have liked to have had with his father.
While the performance is semi-autobiographical – Khan draws significantly from his own life experience – there are also many fictional elements, as his real life father is very much alive.
Photo by Curve Theatre courtesy of Flickr.
The fictional dead father, in contrast, is represented in the show by a face that is drawn on the top of Khan’s bald head. By tilting his head forward, and allowing the audience to see a face on his pate, the protagonist can “recite” stories as if he were his father, with the show containing tales taken from Bangladeshi culture. The resulting effect makes Khan look like a magical marionette who is reciting fantastical stories filled with adventure.
Khan is internationally known for his work in bringing together influences from different cultures. As a child, he started training in the Indian classical dance form of Kathak, which he later supplemented with modern dance techniques. The result of this intercultural work has earned the 39-year-old more than a dozen awards. As the artistic director of the Akram Khan Company, which he co-founded with producer Farooq Chaudhry in 2000, he has performed around the world.
Ottawa residents can see his innovative style first-had this week, when Khan performs DESH at the National Arts Centre from November 14-16.
Apartment613 is giving away one pair of tickets for the November 15 performance. To enter, send an email to apartment613@gmail.com with “Akram Khan NAC Contest” in the subject line by 4 pm Wednesday, November 13. The winner will be announced on Wednesday evening.
While DESH is a solo performance, the show is the result of collaborative work with numerous talented people. Tim Yip, the Oscar-winning art director and film designer best known for his work on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, assisted with the visual design. Award-winning lighting designer Michael Hulls also played a role, as did writer and poet Karthika Nair, and award-winning composer Jocelyn Pook.
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