Juliette Binoche and Akram Khan launch In-I in Abu Dhabi
-First Ever Chance to see Contemporary Dance in Abu Dhabi-
-Acclaimed Collaboration at the Emirates Palace for two days only-

21 January 2009: Oscar-winning French actress Juliette Binoche and internationally acclaimed contemporary dancer & choreographer Akram Khan have joined forces as co-directors and performers to create a major new work of dance- theatre. Turner prize-winning artist Anish Kapoor joins the team as set designer and composer Philip Sheppard creates an original score.

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Participating in this performance is a challenging and intense experience, for both the artists and their audience: Binoche and Khan produce a hybrid between dance and drama - both of them wrote texts for the piece - and take us on an emotional journey tracing the themes of longing, love, disappointment, anger and forgiveness between a man and a woman.

This performance takes both artists in new directions: Juliette Binoche is learning to dance having never danced on stage before and choreographer and dancer Akram Khan acts for the first time since his childhood role in Peter Brook's Mahabharata.

Throughout their careers, they have both sought out surprising and challenging collaborations. Akram Khan has always taken an inter-disciplinary approach to dance and his collaborators range from the French prima ballerina Sylvie Guillem to pop star Kylie Minogue to writers, artists and musicians including Hanif Kureishi, Antony Gormley and Nitin Sawhney. Similarly, Juliette Binoche has made artistically challenging choices with directors such as Michael Haneke (Hidden) and Louis Malle (David Hare's screenplay Damage), and has starred in award-winning films including The English Patient and Chocolat.

Juliette Binoche says: "With Akram, I felt that we could confront and share new desires, hopes and visions through our respective arts by inventing a common language. I never know what I'm capable of before I do it. I secretly hope that faith will take over. Any artistic expression is a means to an opening which doesn't belong to anyone but links us to each other in a mysterious and necessary way."

Akram Khan says: "Throughout my career, I have sought out unexpected collaborations with other artists to explore ideas and themes that are important to me.The project with Juliette has pushed me in unexpected directions and has been one of the most challenging experiences of my life."

Abdulla Salim Al Amri, Director of Arts and Culture, Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage says: "For ADACH, this event is a further reinforcement of our commitment to the Art of Performance, classical, or in this case, avant-garde and contemporary. In-I embodies a unique Dance, Theatre and Music mix, a live experience which will affect those who watch it. We are delighted to be able to welcome to the capital two of the world's most acclaimed artists, one from the realm of Film, the other from the realm of Dance, coming together on stage for the first time in a modern creative dialogue. Juliette Binoche is famous for her brave and sensitive rendition of every character she has portrayed on screen, a dazzling talent which has earned her among many awards, an Oscar; and Akram Khan is an eloquent and daring choreographer who pushes the boundaries of performance, thoroughly deserving of a stellar reputation in the UK and abroad. Most importantly, his fusion of an Eastern, Asian dance heritage with Western contemporary forms resonates with our very own wish to bridge cultures through the Arts. Anish Kapoor's stunning scenic imagery and Philip Sheppard's music are fitting testament to the fact that this is more than just a performance, rather a modern work of art."

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For further press information please contact:

William Kallaway
Kallaway
020 7221 7883
william@kallaway.co.uk

Katie Jackson
Kallaway
020 7221 7883
katie.jackson@kallaway.co.uk

For information related to ADACH please contact:
Ms Saeeda al Ameri
+971 2 6319196
saeeda.alameri@cultural.org.ae

IN-I Credits
Co-directed and performed by Juliette Binoche & Akram Khan
Set Designer Anish Kapoor
Composer Philip Sheppard
Lighting Designer Michael Hulls
Costume Designer Kei Ito
Dramaturge Guy Cools
Rehearsal Director/Dance Coach (Juliette Binoche) Su-Man Hsu
Producer Farooq Chaudhry
Associate Producer/Tour Manager Bia Oliveira
Technical Director Fabiana Piccioli
Sound Designer Nicolas Faure
Technical Coordinator Sander Loonen
Technician Natan Rosseel
Juliette Binoche's Assistant/ Production Co-ordinator Laurent Gorse

Co-producers Hermès Foundation | National Theatre, London | Théâtre de la Ville, Paris | Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg | Romaeuropa Festival, Rome | La Monnaie, Brussels | Sydney Opera House, Sydney | Curve, Leicester

Supported by Arts Council England | The Bell Cohen Charitable Foundation | Théâtre de l'Ouest Parisien - Boulogne Billancourt | CULTURESFRANCE

Global tour sponsored by Société Générale and Hermès Foundation

Produced by Khan Chaudhry Productions & Jubilation Productions
Managed by Akram Khan Company

PR and Sponsorship Kallaway www.kallaway.co.uk

Juliette Binoche's make-up by Lancôme International, hair by l'Oréal International.
Early research supported by Jerwood Studio at Sadler's Wells.

Length: 60 minutes, no interval.



Biographies

Juliette Binoche
Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche is one of the most celebrated actresses in France, where she is referred to affectionately as "La Binoche". Born in Paris to a sculptor/theatre director and an actress, she studied at the National School of Dramatic Art of Paris and after graduation became a stage actress, occasionally taking small parts in French feature films. She first earned recognition in 1985 in Jean-Luc Godard's controversial Hail Mary (Je vous salue, Marie). Her position as a French film star was further confirmed by her acclaimed performance in André Téchiné's Rendez-Vous.

Her international breakthrough came in 1988 when she played Tereza in Philip Kaufman's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which was followed by another widely acclaimed lead role in Les Amants du Pont Neuf directed by Léos Carax in 1991. Another film which brought her to a wider audience was Louis Malle's Damage in 1992. This was followed by the lead role in Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colours: Blue. Juliette Binoche returned to the screen in 1995 with The Horseman on the Roof (Le Hussard sur Le Toit). She won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1996 for her role in Anthony Minghella's The English Patient. In 2000 she starred in the hit film Chocolat, a role she prepared for by learning to make chocolate at a popular Paris sweet shop. The film was a huge success and she was nominated for Best Actress awards across the globe. She followed this with Code Unknown (Code Inconnu), Michael Haneke's film about intersecting lives, and worked with the same director in 2005 on Hidden (Caché). Other recent films include Abel Ferrara's Mary opposite Matthew Modine and Forest Whitaker (2005); Anthony Minghella's Breaking and Entering opposite Jude Law (2006), and Hou Hsao Hsien's Flight of the Red Balloon (Le Voyage du Ballon Rouge). Her most recently completed film is Summer Hours (L'Heure d'été) directed by Olivier Assayas.
Juliette Binoche lives in France with her two children.

Akram Khan
Akram Khan is one of the most acclaimed choreographers of his generation working in Britain today. Born in London into a family of Bangladeshi origin in 1974, he began dancing at the age of seven and studied with the great Kathak dancer and teacher Sri Pratap Pawar. He began his stage career at the age of 14, when he was cast in Peter Brook's legendary production of Mahabharata, appearing in the televised version of the play broadcast in 1988. Following later studies in contemporary dance, he began presenting solo performances of his work in the 1990s, maintaining his commitment to the classical kathak repertoire as well as modern work. Among his best-known solo pieces are: Polaroid Feet (2001), Ronin (2003) and Third Catalogue (2005). In August 2000, he launched his own company, and among his most notable company works are Kaash (2002) a collaboration with artist Anish Kapoor and composer Nitin Sawhney, ma (2004), for which he received a South Bank Show Award (2005); zero degrees (2005), a collaboration with dancer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, sculptor Antony Gormley and composer Nitin Sawhney, premiered at Sadler's Wells and was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award in 2006. zero degrees won Best Choreography in a Ballet or Dance Work and Akram won the award for Best Male Dancer in the prestigious annual Helpmann Awards held in Sydney,Australia on Monday 6 August 2007. Sacred Monsters, a major work featuring ballerina Sylvie Guillem, with additional choreography by Taiwanese choreographer Lin Hwai Min premiered at Sadler's Wells in September 2006.Another of his most recent projects is Variations, a collaboration with London Sinfonietta to celebrate the 70th birthday of Steve Reich, which premiered in Cologne in March 2006, and toured to Europe and America later that year. Akram Khan was also invited by Kylie Minogue in summer 2006 to choreograph a section of her Showgirl concert, which opened in Australia in November 2006, and toured to the UK (London and Manchester) in January 2007. A new work, bahok, a unique collaboration with the National Ballet of China and choreographed by Akram Khan, toured worldwide through 2008 with great
success. Akram Khan is married and lives in London.

Anish Kapoor
Anish Kapoor was born in Bombay in 1954 and has lived in London since the early 70's when he studied at Hornsey College of Art and Chelsea School of Art Design. Over the past twenty years Anish Kapoor has exhibited extensively in London and all over the world. His solo shows have included venues such as Kunsthalle Basel,Tate Gallery and Hayward Gallery in London, Reina Sofia in Madrid and CAPC in Bordeaux. He has also participated internationally in many group shows including the
Whitechapel Art Gallery,The Royal Academy and Serpentine Gallery in London, Documenta IX in Kassel, Moderna Museet in Stockholm and Jeu de Paume and Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Anish Kapoor was awarded the 'Premio Duemila at the Venice Biennale in 1990, the Turner Prize Award in 1991 and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship at the London Institute in 1997. He is represented by the Lisson Gallery, London, Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York and Galleria Massimo Minini, Italy.

Philip Sheppard
Philip Sheppard trained in Cello and Composition at the Royal Academy of Music, during which time he specialised in contemporary music. He worked closely with Hans Werner Henze, Sir Michael Tippett and Luciano Berio during this time as a founder member of The Kreutzer String Quartet. He collaborated with pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, who encouraged him to move away from a conventional musical environment, and pursue his composition. He went on to pioneer electro-acoustic improvisation joining the Smith Quartet and appearing regularly with the London Sinfonietta. After completing a Fellowship, he was made a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music where he is now a Senior Lecturer. His early solo albums, 'The Glass Cathedral' and 'The Diver in the Crypt', featured new compositions devised for site-specific performances. The albums received rave reviews on release and are regularly played on Radio 3.The tracks feature a specially commissioned electric cello that has become a cornerstone of many of Philip's compositions. The albums attracted the attention of Scott Walker, who invited him to play at his Southbank Centre Meltdown Festival. They collaborated again on Pulp's album 'We Love Life' with Jarvis Cocker and after that on Walker's critically acclaimed album 'The Drift'. He has also arranged songs for Jarvis Cocker's solo album 'Jarvis', David Bowie and Suzanne Vega. His first orchestral soundtrack was commissioned for the documentary feature, 'In the Shadow of the Moon', which won major awards at the Boulder, Florida, Indianapolis and Sedona film festivals, as well as the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Philip has been commissioned to write and produce the music for the Olympic Handover Ceremony, at this years' Beijing Olympics. This marks the point when the Olympic flag passes to London in preparation for the 2012 games. Philip has also been commissioned to arrange and direct the British National Anthem for these events. In 2006, Philip was commissioned to write 'Sacred Monsters' for Akram and Sylvie Guillem. He toured with the production until the Summer of 2007, his final performance being at the Herod Atticus Theatre in the shadow of the Parthenon.

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