A Sadler’s Wells Commission
Akram Khan Company    
Gnosis       

Monday 26 & Tuesday 27 April 2010
WORLD PREMIERE
Performances at 7.30pm
Tickets: £10 - £35 
Ticket office: 0844 412 4300 / www.sadlerswells.com

 
“As both an appetite-whetter for the full Gnosis and a final reminder of Khan’s brilliance, it was simply astonishing” The Daily Telegraph on Akram Khan at Svapnagata

“I recalled as I watched Khan how hypnotic and how intoxicating can be the great exponents of this art”
 Financial Times on Akram Khan at Svapnagata

Internationally acclaimed Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Akram Khan returns to the Sadler’s Wells stage with his keenly anticipated new work Gnosis on Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 April 2010.

The multi-award winning dancer and choreographer Akram Khan is renowned for his cross cultural collaborations with everyone from Anthony Gormley and Nitin Sawhney to Juliette Binoche and Kylie Minogue. In this world premiere he presents his first new solo work in five years, previously glimpsed in a short extract performed at the Sadler’s Wells Svapnagata festival in November 2009.

Drawing from both ancient and modern sources, Gnosis is also inspired by the Hindu epic Mahabharata. In particular the story of Queen Gandhari, who renounces her own sight to follow her blind husband.

Combining classical kathak with contemporary dance, Gnosis revisits the classical motifs of two earlier works, Polaroid Feet and Tarana. This new work sees the South Bank Show Award-winning Khan explore themes of inner knowledge and clouded vision, of seeing darkness and yet being blind to light.

Khan is accompanied by world-class musicians from India,Pakistan and the UK, as well asacclaimed taiko drummer, Yoshie Sunahata, from the Japanese company KODO, for this technically virtuosic, thought-provoking work.

Press night: Monday 26 April 2010 at 7.30pm

For further information or to arrange interviews please contact: Ciaran McKenna on 020 7863 8114 / ciaran.mckenna@sadlerswells.com  or Anna Cusden at Kallaway PR on 020 7221 7883 / anna.cusden@kallaway.com

Press images: www.sadlerswells.com/pressimages
View clip: www.sadlerswells.com/show/Akram-Khan-Gnosis-2010/video#title

Akram Khan Biography 
Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Akram Khan is the most acclaimed choreographer of his generation working in Britain today. He launched The Akram Khan Company in August 2000, 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, Sacred Monsters, a major work featuring ballerina Sylvie Guillem which premiered at Sadler's Wells in September 2006.Variations for Vibes, Pianos and Strings a piece created for Steve Reich's commissioned score of the same name, premiered in New York, accompanied by the London Sonfonietta, for the birthday celebration of the composer in October 2006. He also choreographed a section of Kylie Minogue’s Showgirl world tour in summer 2006. In 2008 bahok, a work choreographed by Akram in conjunction with the National Ballet of China, premiered in Beijing before touring worldwide. His recent work In-I, a collaboration with Oscar-winning French actress Juliette Binoche, also embarked on an international tour after premiering at the National Theatre in October 2008. In November 2009 Khan curated the Sadler’s Wells Svapnagata festival of Indian dance and music alongside collaborator Nitin Sawhney. Akram Khan received an MBE for his services to dance in 2005.