Akram Khan: bahok

Blog
09 March
Leap

I am using Liverpool's appointment as European Capital of Culture as an incentive to get out and see as many events as possible, and to discover new experiences. This was definitely the case with Akram Khan's Bahok at the Playhouse, a performance of contemporary dance, and, for me, a trip into the unknown.

Bahok is a study of identity, travel, memories and hope through dance, music and language. A cosmopolitan cast of eight dancers come together in an abstract departure lounge, the only props being a couple of chairs and a giant electronic message board. Whilst characters do interact through conversation, with dialogue scripted by Hanif Kureishi, the majority of their emotions are expressed through dance, either individually or in group pieces.  As a dance virgin I am unable to provide any technical punditry, but I thought the choreography was excellent and a visual feast. There was a variety of styles, some modern, others with a more classic ballet feel, which is to be expected as this production is a collaboration between the Akram Khan Company and the National Ballet of China. My personal favourites were the more modern dances which often started in a jittery body-popping style, before exploding around the stage and enveloping all the dancers in controlled mayhem.    

The dancers come from a variety of different cultures and backgrounds with China, Korea, India, South Africa and Spain represented, and although they were dressed in everyday fashions, they filled the stage with colour and spirit. The accompanying music by Nitin Sawhney is superb, a fusion of Asian instrumentation with hip hop and drum and bass rhythms, which fizzes with energy perfectly harnessed by the dancers. As the tablas and sitars build to a crescendo, the anticipation of the beat, and the dance springing back to life is incredible.

Bahok is part of Leap 08 http://www.leap08.co.uk/leap_home.aspx, a contemporary dance festival presented by Merseyside Dance Initiative, which runs until the 15th of March. This was my first taste of performance dance, but has definitely whetted my appetite for the future.

Laurence.

More blogs from Laurence

Shobana Jeyasingh is coming to the Leap! Festival - Thursday, 13th March

I originally moved from California nearly 4 years ago to work with Shobana Jeyasingh and have since done many productions in amazing venues throughout the country, toured internationally and been lucky enough to be part of the choreographic process of this legendary British dance-maker. But this year by far has been the busiest!

We have been touring two productions since before January - "city:zen" which utilizes most of the company and "The Dancer's Cut" which uses 4 core members and will appear at the Leap! Festival on Thursday March 13th. "Cut", as us dancers call it, was created to commemorate SJDC's 20th Year Anniversary! It's unlike any other piece we've done because it links the best segments of recent company works [Transtep (2004), Flicker (2005), Exit no exit (2006) and Faultline (2007)] and intersperses it with film segments that give the audience a glimpse of what it's like to be a dancer in the company. We talk frankly in interviews about how it feels to dance Shobana's work, we give clues as to how the pieces were made, we are shown in the studio problem-solving lifts, and outside, trying to rest from a tiresome week of rehearsals.

My favorite part of "The Dancer's Cut" is the very beginning of the hour-long piece, the first of the 4 segments that make up the evening. It showcases each of the dancers as individually talented artists, doing solos in the kind of clothing we'd be wearing outside the studio (which we don't get to wear very often!) Before each solo is a sound-bite of the dancer in an interview, telling the audience an intimate tale of the struggles they overcame to begin dancing or what they must overcome daily to continue dancing in their lives. I've had an audience member (who knew the dancers well) tell me that each solo perfectly described the dancer's personality, not only in the way it was danced of course, but in the choreography as well, which is interesting because the material is taken from past repertoire we haven't neccessarily done before.

The four of us performing "Cut" (myself - Kamala Devam, Yamuna Devi, Mandeep Raikhy & Devaraj Thimmiah) have been excited for weeks to perform the piece at the Leap! Festival this Thursday. It's not often that an audience gets the chance to experience dance from the dancer's point of view, and we hope our Liverpool audience enjoys it as much as we enjoy letting them into our minds and hearts.

- Kamala Devam (Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company Member)

bahok review

The Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool                                       
March 7 – March 8 (then touring)

Writer: Hanif Kureishi
Producer: Akram Khan Company & National Ballet of China
Composer: Nitin Sawhney
Running time: 1 hr 15 mins                                                         

There are times when reviewers have to hold up their hands up say fair enough guys, that was wonderful and, having seen the European Premier of Akram Khan and the National Ballet of China’s latest production, this reviewer’s one regret is that he couldn’t get a ticket for the second night due to the theatre being sold out for weeks beforehand.

With so much pre-production anticipation surrounding this, the first Akram Khan production in which the most highly acclaimed choreographer of his generation has not performed, it would be easy to be disparaging and cynical. However, it is impossible to be so as bahok, without question, will be an event of Liverpool’s Capital of Culture celebrations that will be spoken about for years to come.

Staged as a part of the Merseyside Dance Initiative’s annual LEAP festival, the work looks at how people from different parts of the world relate to each other. Dramatised through a mixture of dialogue and dance, it is set in the departure lounge of a major airport and what ensues is a powerful and, at times, humorous unification of mind, body and spirit, sensationally illustrated through the grace and energy of the eight performers.

Never is there a moment when what takes place is not captivating, as the central characters of the moment meld with those on the periphery of the action to stunning, breathtaking effect, with each nuance supported brilliantly Nitin Sawhney’s stunning score.

Whimsical without ever being fay and emotive without ever becoming patronising, bahok unearths what the word “Home” truly means and is quite simply as close to perfect as anybody has a right to expect.

Chris High.

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What a view!

On Wednesday 27th March, MDI hosted a press conference for LEAP 08 at FACT. With nibbles and wine everyone was looking forward to hearing all about what this year's LEAP festival had to offer. Before opening speeches from MDI's Director Karen Gallagher and Board Chair Clive Taylor, journalists were encouraged to have a go in the move-me-booth, our interactive and self-contained installation in which members of the public make and record dances for the web.

Phil Key lay down his hat and rose to the challenge putting some very fancy footwork into action.

Clive Taylor described how "this event brings together some of the International artists as well as giving our local artists a showcase to perform their work. This is a really exciting programme and fitting to celebrate Liverpool as the Capital of Culture."

A few of our dancer's from companies, House of Suarez, Taciturn and Us Geese are Swans then took part in a breezy photo shoot on the roof terrace of FACT. With spectacular views of the city our dancers created a series of beautiful movements, photos to follow...

Dance-In-Tension present Rags

Dance In-Tension have recently been working on range of material for their debut movement piece called ‘Rags.’ This piece of dance can be described as street dance theatre, however it showcases more than that. The diversely skilled dancers from the company have been able to take the movement language of hip hop into a new dimension to explore themes of acceptance and teamwork. Intertwined with this they have shown physical control and versatility by incorporating contemporary dance as a form of expression and interaction for the characters involved in the piece.

In order to make the piece a success the dancers have been researching a variety of ideas on a weekly basis, such as research into toy characters and have considered what would be the best art form for this to be expressed. Bearing in mind their target audience they have paid particular attention to the movement of individual characters and the use of props, helping to make it visually stimulating and more understandable for their young audience

Bringing together all the dancers has proven to be difficult within the last few weeks; However, the dancers have been able to get sources of inspiration and ideas elsewhere from their professional careers. This includes music ideas and generally bringing a variation of choreography and colour to enhance the piece. One of these ideas has been the work of rapper Jammer. In a recent rehearsal he was able to set the piece in motion and also bring words and ideas with his rap to add depth to the piece. His work has inspired further visuals and movement to the dance and Dance In-Tension are continually improving and perfecting this ready to take the stage.

Don’t miss the chance to catch them in their debut performance on the 9th March.

Caroline Odogwu

4 Days to go!

With only 4 days remaining before this year's LEAP explodes into action, all our featuring companies and dancers are busy putting the finishing touches to their work.

Don't miss out, book your tickets today and join in this year's dancing festivities!

Taciturn work with New Art Club's Tom Roden

Performing as part of this year's New Moves, local company Taciturn will be showing their exciting new work choreographed by New Art Club's Tom Roden.
Read on to find more out about Tom...

Formerly director of Air Dance Company Tom Roden is now co-director of New Art Club. Their shows This is Modern, The Electric Tales, The Notcracker and The Visible Men have toured extensively in Europe, America and Asia to critical and popular acclaim.

With his long term colaborator Pete Shenton he has created commissions for Probe, Dance Umbrella, Scottish Dance Theatre, Ricochet, Dance 4, Dance City, Dance Northwest, Anjali Dance Company, Ascendance, Home and was a finalist in the inaugural Place Prize.

His Opera,Theatre and Film credits include Babettes Feast at The Royal Opera House, Magic Flute and Hansel and Gretal for Opera North, Elixier of Love for Grange Park Opera, Edward the Second and Under Milk Wood for Bolton Octagon, Elisa’s House for The Royal Exchange, Parasite for Reckless Sleepers and The Red Shoe Project a film for DanceEast.

New Art Club’s current show The Visible Men will be touring throughout 2008.

The LINE - Preview

The LINE is a large-scale line of choreography, which involves 100+ participants. It brings different people together forming a unique event of agreement, excitement and extravagance.

People from different backgrounds, ages and abilities will join in one LINE and share a common link.

Join in a pilot project at MDI on 17th & 18th March to be one of the first to experience this unique project.

Contact : MDI on 0151 708 8810

“The line of life, the crossing of borders,

the link, the holding of hands, crossing rivers, re-uniting, connecting different communities and building bridges”  Lisi Perry, Artistic Director

COLLISION and The LINE - How to get involved

Hello,

Look out for Collision's new project supported by the Liverpool Culture Company - The LINE. It will be premiered in may 2008 with over 100 participants, but look out for previews in the city during Jan 30th - Feb 2nd.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE PART OF THE PROJECT THERE WILL BE A PILOT PROJECT HAPPENING AT MDI IN EASTER 17TH & 18TH MARCH -

IF INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING PLEASE GET IN CONTACT WITH MDI; 0151 708 8810

Also check out our website for More information: www.collisiondance.co.uk

REGARDS

LISI PERRY

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

LEAP 08

With the start of a very exciting new year for Liverpool, the countdown begins to the 16th LEAP contemporary dance festival. Under the theme of Culture's Collide, LEAP 08 will offer a chance to see some of the best local, national and international companies.