Giselle | The Telegraph | Interview

“Akram Khan is giving the quintessential Romantic ballet a modern makeover. He explains all to Mark Monahan

I’m very intimidated by the heritage of Giselle,” says Akram Khan. “A lot of people who come to see the show will know Giselle inside out. So, that frightens me.”

As well it might. For Khan has been commissioned to reimagine one of the oldest surviving classical ballets. Created in Paris in 1841 by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot, though later reworked by Marius Petipa, this two-act jewel is the quintessential Romantic piece. What’s more, the choreography has remained remarkably intact across the centuries – unlike, say, The Nutcracker, which is essentially rebuilt from scratch with every new staging, there is an inviolate air about Giselle, which is probably why so few people over the years have dared to tinker with it. (The only notable exception is the contemporary take by Swedish choreographer Mats Ek, but that was 34 years ago.)

Now, Khan is a choreographer (not to mention a performer) of exceptional intelligence, originality and dynamism, arguably the pre‑eminent British dance-maker of his generation. Over the past 10 years or so, pieces such as zero degrees (2005), Desh (2011) and last January’s Until the Lions have seen him dazzle audiences with his unique interweaving of the classical Indian Kathak dance on which he was weaned and his subsequent Western‑contemporary training.”

To read the rest of the interview, click here.