Dancer Akram Khan returns to Bangladeshi roots
Akram Khan is one of the biggest names on the international dance circuit. Channel 4 News Culture Editor Matthew Cain asks Khan why he has returned to his Bangladeshi roots for his latest work.
I’ve always been a big fan of Akram Khan’s work, and over the years have followed his acclaimed collaborations with the likes of Antony Gormley, Hanif Kureishi, Anish Kapoor, Juliette Binoche and Kylie Minogue.
But I was fascinated to hear that in his new show DESH he’d be reconnecting with his family’s Bangladeshi culture. Because I’d always been under the impression that he’d never disconnected from it.
But it turns out that kathak, the form of classical Indian dance Khan has so successfully fused with elements of western contemporary dance, originates from the north of India and isn’t particularly connected with Bangladesh after all. And that he himself admits to avoiding engaging with Bangladeshi culture in his work.
When I interviewed him in rehearsals for DESH, he told me that he’d always found the idea too challenging as it meant confronting difficult issues about his very self. Until now.
Much has been written about the identity crisis of second generation immigrants and their feeling of being caught between two cultures. I can’t claim to have any personal experience of this so am possibly guilty of having underestimated its significance and intensity.
To find out that Akram Khan, who for many of us embodies the harmonious cultural fusion of east and west, has also struggled with the issue, was something of a revelation.
But now Khan is tackling the issue head-on; an exploration of the identity crisis of the second generation immigrant is very much at the heart of DESH. I only saw isolated extracts in rehearsal this week but the show already looks sensational.
More to the point, I watched these extracts alongside representatives of the significant Bangladeshi community living around the Curve Theatre in Leicester. And they all seemed impressed.
When I chatted to them afterwards, they told me that much of their engagement in the piece was driven by their own cultural confusion as second generation immigrants.
So DESH certainly succeeds on that level. I’ll look forward to opening night to see if it can offer any insights into the subject. Because I suspect that, with increased immigration around the world and advances in communications technology helping to break down national boundaries, it’s a cultural phenomenon that isn’t about to lose any of its intensity. Quite the opposite.
