DESH 13-17 September 2011, Curve, Leicester
Akram Khan, the internationally acclaimed dancer and choreographer, opens the autumn season at Curve with the World Premiere of his new dance production, DESH (Tuesday 13 – Saturday 17 September 2011).
DESH follows the success of Khan’s previous co-productions with Curve; IN-I, a duet with Juliette Binoche, and VERTICAL ROAD, which received their World Premieres at Curve in 2008 and 2010 respectively. In this production, Khan is returning to his roots to create his first full-length contemporary dance solo DESH, inspired by his home country of Bangladesh.
DESH, meaning homeland in Bengali, will explore the idea of transformation – of body, land, identity and memory, while examining the contradictions of Khan’s British-Asian identity. Created after a year of research both in the UK and Bangladesh and performed during the year Bangladesh celebrates the 40th anniversary of its independence from Pakistan, DESH draws together multiple tales of land, nation and resistance.
Leicester holds special significance for the award-winning choreographer. Khan is an alumus of Dance at De Montfort University and relishes returning to the city to create his work at Curve.
The production will be devised during a six-week residency, in which Khan will use the theatre’s exceptional stage and rehearsal spaces to develop this new piece.
DESH will create a completely new environment on stage that symbolises and embodies the chaos, but also the hope of Bangladesh and its people, who are among the most economically and environmentally vulnerable in the world. A world-class collection of artists brought together from all over the globe have collaborated with Khan to create a set of staggering breadth and scale for DESH, to bring the beauty and brutality of Bangladesh to the stage. Oscar and BAFTA winning Chinese designer Tim Yip (CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON) has created the set and costume designs.
Other artistic collaborators for DESH include British award-winning lighting designer Michael Hulls and Olivier award-winning composer Jocelyn Pook, and the French-Indian writer and poet Karthika Nair.
