Until the Lions, a brand new full-length production of Akram Khan, was staged from January 9 to 24 in the incredible 360° setting of London’s Roundhouse, is now set to go on a world tour. In this partial adaptation of poet Karthika Naïr’s book Until the Lions: Echoes from the Mahabharata, an original reworking of the epic Mahabharata, the award-winning English choreographer and dancer of Bangladeshi ancestry uses kathak and contemporary dance to depict the epic.
The dance play tells the tale of Amba, a princess abducted on her wedding day and stripped of her honour, who invokes the gods to seek revenge, exploring themes of gender and sexuality.
Bringing together some of the original team from his solo DESH, Khan reunites with some of the artistic collaborators behind the Olivier Award winning production, including visual artist Tim Yip of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon famed lighting designer Michael Hulls, writer Karthika NaÏr and dramaturge Ruth Little.
Considered as one of Khan’s most startling and spectacular work till date, he himself, performs alongside two of his company dancers, Ching-Ying Chien and Christine Joy Ritter, and four musicians including Sohini Alam, David Azurza, Yaron Engler and Vincenzo Lamagna.
A dance critic from The Telegraph, Mark Monahan describes the play as “a little firecracker of a show, one that really stays with you and grows in the memory,” while reputed press from UK including the Guardian, Times and The Stage gave positive reviews.
Khan has created an influential body of work, collaborating with an impressive range of performers and artists including Juliette Binoche, Sylvie Guillem, Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Nitin Sawhney. His work for the London 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony was met with unanimous acclaim.
Produced by Farooq Chaudhry, the production commenced for tours recently, while few of the upcoming shows have been announced including one in Maison de la Culture de Grenoble, France on April 27-30, at the Brighton Festival, UK from May 7 to 29 and finally at the Holland Festival, Netherlands on June 23-25.
