MA – by Akram Khan

Akram Khan stands for dance and energy in its purest form; with his latest creation “Ma” his innovative, idiosyncratic fusion of classic Northern Indian kathak and contemporary Western dance enters new territories. Once again the choreographer, who is London-based with Bangladeshi roots, presents the kind of high speed dance which is both virtuosic and elegant, transforms arms into helicopter wings and, with the help of a driving drum rhythm, creates mathematically precise, yet floating movements. This time Khan does not draw inspiration from Indian mythology; with ten performers (seven dancers and three live musicians) he addresses a far more universal topic: A woman is desperately longing for a child. But she cannot conceive. The text material is provided by the English-Pakistani bestseller author Hanif Kureishi, author of scripts for movies like “My beautiful launderette”.

From the series “Backstage – Are you ready for Dance? The World’s newest Dance Performances”