(Revival of the 2002 full-length work)
World premiere: 28 March 2002, Maison des Arts, Créteil (France)
Original tour: 133 shows, 65 venues, 23 countries
Revival Premiere: 12 December 2014, MC2: Grenoble (France)
Last performance: 9 September 2016, Hellerau, Dresden
Akram Khan teamed up with the celebrated talents of Anish Kapoor and Nitin Sawhney to present his company’s first full-length evening work fourteen years ago. “Hindu Gods, black holes, Indian time cycles, tablas, creation and destruction” were the starting points for this work in 2002. Danced by a strong international cast of performers, Kaash (Hindi word for “if only”) continued Akram Khan’s quest to build bridges between the worlds of contemporary dance and the Indian classical dance form Kathak.
Artistic Direction / Choreography Akram Khan
Composer Nitin Sawhney
Set Design Anish Kapoor
Lighting Design Aideen Malone
Costume Design Kimie Nakano
Additional Music ‘Spectre’ by John Oswald played by The Kronos Quartet
Voice Akram Khan, B C Manjunath
Sound Recording Bernhard Schimpelsberger
Producer Farooq Chaudhry
Revival for 5 dancers
Performers Kristina Alleyne, Sadé Alleyne, Sung Hoon Kim, Nicola Monaco, Sarah Cerneaux
Rehearsal Director Yen-Ching Lin
With the support of Eulalia Ayguade Farro, Moya Michael and Andrej Petrovic
Technical Director Richard Fagan
Technicians Alex Castro, Peter Swikker/Paul Moorhouse
Tour Manager Mashitah Omar
Material originally devised and performed by (2002-2004)
Akram Khan, Rachel Krische, Moya Michael, Inn Pang Ooi, Shanell Winlock and Eulalia Ayguade Farro
Kaash was originally created with the generous support of Southbank Centre (London), Tramway (Glasgow), Vooruit (Gent), Sampad (Birmingham), DanceEast (Ipswich), Maison des Arts de Créteil, Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University with support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
Kaash was also created with generous support from The Quercus Trust, The Jerwood Space and Birmingham DanceXchange.
The 2014 revival of Kaash was supported by a residency at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London.
Akram Khan is an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells, London.
Supported by Arts Council England
Duration: 55 minutes
Kaash stands as a striking work of pure dance that takes the spectator on a journey from the vast echo of outer space down into the red-hot centre of the Earth.
If Kaash was a revelation in 2002, it hasn’t lost its impact now.
There’s always a question about whether early works will live up to their memory, but this reworked version certainly still has the power.
In the beginning, there is nothing. Only a silent theater and dancer Sung Hoon Kim standing upstage, stock still with his back to the audience. Then Akram Khan’s Kaash opens with a big bang, with thundering drumbeats that ripple through your heart. The ensemble emerges and rips into choreography that blends the furious attack of kathak and the lyricism of contemporary dance. You feel the universe forming in an atomic rush.
