Akram Khan Company: Remembrance – Remembrance Night Review – Forget the meaning, feel the color and emotion | Akram Khan

AKaram Khan is a choreographer at his best when he seems to be working on instinct. Often, in his work, the question is less what it means, but how it feels; Not to learn how to combine different dance forms or recreate mythological stories, but to immerse ourselves in their sensual impact.

Thikra has a lot going on in this area. This piece was produced earlier this year for the Wadi Al Fan Arts Festival, a new “cultural destination” in AlUla, an ancient oasis city and trade route in the desert of Saudi Arabia. It is a collaboration with London-based Saudi artist Manal Al Dowayan, who originally built her rock collage on desert sand. And you can imagine the early scenes of the 60-minute piece taking effect in a vast outdoor setting. Khan has a strong sense of imagery, with the twelve dancers harmonizing with bold line and satisfying lines that cut and connect. She’s danced lithely by the all-female cast, all with long hair swaying in sync.

In the center is a young woman dressed in white (qing ying shen) and what follows appears to be a consecration or sacrifice, perhaps an exorcism. In fact, in this mythical tale concocted by Khan and Duwayan, she is an ancestor, summoned by a tribe of women on this “night of remembrance,” for a rebirth of sorts, a healing ritual from the past. It is not a dreamy, smooth spiritual journey, but a place of anger and searching (plus great beauty in the compelling performances of Azusa Simama Briuville as the mother, one of her daughters, Nikita Goili). Samantha Hines is the supposed vessel for this ritual, but she is more like a monstrous scavenger who picks up Shane’s body, then a somewhat terrifying puppet master.