The Scotsman: "Dance Review: Chotto Desh" by Kelly Apter (15 Aug 2016)
An absolute triumph
World Premiere: 23 October 2015, DanceEast, Ipswich, UK
London Premiere: 30 October 2015, Sadler’s Wells, London
Last performance: 24 November 2018, Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, Vancouver
Akram Khan’s DESH was an instant hit with audiences and critics alike when it was first presented in 2011. Now, Akram Khan Company, and Theatre-Rites director Sue Buckmaster have adapted Khan’s much-loved production for children aged 7+ and their families.
Chotto Desh, meaning ‘small homeland’, draws on Khan’s unique quality of cross-cultural storytelling, creating a compelling tale of a young man’s dreams and memories from Britain to Bangladesh. Using a magical mix of dance, text, visuals and sound, Chotto Desh celebrates the resilience of the human spirit in the modern world and promises to be a magical, thrilling and poignant dance theatre experience for families to enjoy together.
The [Hi]stories of Chotto Desh
by Karthika Naïr
DESH – and Chotto Desh, its younger version adapted for family audiences – began with a promise, one made by a son to his mother. Years ago, early in his career, Akram Khan had promised Mrs. Anwara Khan he would make a piece on the country of her birth, Bangladesh. Akram intended to keep his promise, but life kept happening, other projects kept coming in the way… Then one day, it all started coming together. Akram met visual artist Tim Yip, someone he had admired for long. Tim, agreeing to collaborate with Akram on his next work, suggested it should be an exploration of his parents’ roots: Bangladesh. It was time to keep a promise. To go on a journey.
And that is what we did. The entire creative team met for the first time in Bangladesh, travelling together for ten days through November 2010 to discover many of the voices, faces, places that compose the country.
Now, in this strange, unprecedented moment of physical isolation and danger, when memory and emotional nearness and beauty are our magic wands for sanity, we remember them.
Now, when Chotto Desh will be streamed in an attempt to share something that gave us so much joy and warmth, it seems fitting to share also our memories of those voices and faces and places, the ones that compose DESH and Chotto Desh in ways both visible and invisible.
Read the full text here.
