Akram Khan Company Chotto Desh
Freesheet
About the show
Akram Khan Company is delighted to be bringing back its much-loved family-friendly production of Chotto Desh.
Adapted by Theatre-Rites’ director, Sue Buckmaster, in 2015 from Akram Khan’s Olivier Award-winning solo and critically acclaimed DESH, this heart-warming story follows a young man trying to find his place in the world. Now, it returns to capture the attention and imagination of a new generation of younger audiences.
Chotto Desh, meaning ‘small homeland’, draws on Khan’s unique quality of cross-cultural storytelling, creating a compelling tale of a boy’s dreams and memories from Britain to Bangladesh that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit in the modern world. Blending Kathak and contemporary dance with an exquisite mix of spoken text, dreamlike animation, visuals and specially composed music, Chotto Desh is an enchanting and poignant dance-theatre experience for children and their families to enjoy together.
About Akram Khan Company
In July 1999 in the foyer of the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, an animated and curiosity-filled conversation took place between the young gifted dancer/choreographer Akram Khan and an ambitious former dancer and just recently graduated arts manager Farooq Chaudhry. That conversation laid the foundation stone for a dynamic collaboration, culminating in the creation of Akram Khan Company one year later.
Inspired by Akram Khan’s early training in the Indian classical dance form Kathak, and the hybrid language that organically emerged when Akram’s kathak training encountered contemporary dance in his teens, a vision began to form, fuelled by a desire to learn and create through collaboration with the very best people across all the disciplines in the arts.
The rules were simple: take risks, think big and daring, explore the unfamiliar, avoid compromise and tell stories through dance that are compelling and relevant, with artistic integrity.
In almost 25 years, Akram Khan Company is now undisputedly one of the foremost innovative dance companies in the world. The programmes range from kathak and modern solos to artist-to-artist collaborations and ensemble productions. The Company has a major international presence and enjoys busy tours that reach out to many cultures and peoples across the globe. Akram Khan has been the recipient of numerous international dance awards, the most notable being an Olivier Award for his solo production DESH in 2012.
A milestone in the Company’s journey was the creation of a section of the London Olympic Games Opening Ceremony in 2012.
Akram Khan Company enjoys artistic association with Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London, Curve in Leicester, and other leading venues and festivals around the world.
Artistic Team & Credits
DESH Artistic Direction and Original Choreography Akram Khan
Chotto Desh Direction and Adaptation Sue Buckmaster (Theatre-Rites)
Music Composition Jocelyn Pook
Lighting Design Guy Hoare
Stories imagined by Karthika Naïr and Akram Khan
The grandmother’s fable in Chotto Desh is taken from the book The Honey Hunter
Written by Karthika Naïr, Sue Buckmaster and Akram Khan
Assistant Choreographer Jose Agudo
Rehearsal Director Amy Butler
Grandmother’s Voice Leesa Gazi
Jui’s Voice Sreya Andrisha Gazi
Dancers Jasper Narvaez and Nico Ricchini
Tour Managers Mashitah Omar and Svitlana Bil
Stage Manager Jessica Rice
Lighting Technician Gerald Mcdermott
Sound & Video Matt Armstrong
Original Visual Design Tim Yip
Original Visual Animation created by YeastCulture
Original Costume Supervisor Kimie Nakano
Music Engineer Steve Parr
Painted Head Sequence devised by Damien Jalet with Akram Khan
‘Bleeding Soles’ lyrics written by Leesa Gazi
Singers Melanie Pappenheim, Sohini Alam, Jocelyn Pook (Voice/Viola/Piano), Tanja Tzarovska, Jeremy Schonfield
We gratefully acknowledge the artists who contributed to the original production of DESH by Akram Khan Company.
Coproduced by the MAC, Belfast
Originally co-commissioned by MOKO Dance, Akram Khan Company, Sadler’s Wells London, DanceEast, Théâtre de la Ville Paris, Mercat de les Flors Barcelona, Biennale de la danse de Lyon 2016 and Stratford Circus Arts Centre.
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Family dance workshop
Saturday 1 Nov, 12:45 – 1:30 pm
Join Akram Khan Company for a family dance workshop that brings you closer to the magical world of Chotto Desh
Watch Akram Khan in conversation,
Learn about Akram Khan’s journey into dance, as he shares his philosophy on storytelling and balancing work with parenthood.