XENOS
Solo

For his performance in XENOS, Akram Khan won an Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in dance in 2019.

[EN] The relationship between the Grand Théâtre and Akram Khan has been one of the most consistent and successful over the past decade. For his final performance as a solo dancer, Akram Khan returns to Luxembourg with a new full-length piece and a stellar creative team. Along with dramaturg Ruth Little and acclaimed Canadian playwright Jordan Tannahill, he teams up with set designer Mirella Weingarten, award-winning lighting designer Michael Hulls, costume designer Kimie Nakano and composer Vincenzo Lamagna.

Shifting between classical kathak and contemporary dance, Khan and his team draw on the archives of the 20^th century, unearthing the experience of colonial soldiers in the First World War. Over 4 million non-white men were mobilised by the European and American armies during the conflict. Around 1.5 million of them were from India, mostly peasant-warriors from the north and north-west, who fought and died in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. In service to the myths of an Empire, dislocated from their homelands and cultures, their stories have until recently remained untold.

The text for XENOS by Canadian playwright Jordan Tannahill gives voice to the shell-shocked dream of a colonial Indian soldier in no-man’s land. Many of the sepoys who died in conflict were buried abroad, while for those who returned home, often mutilated and traumatised, another form of erasure followed, as their stories were interred in archives following the rise of Indian nationalism and the rejection of colonial rule. Separated from their own histories, homelands, and countrymen, they became xenoi, “strangers”.

Akram Khan will be joined on stage by five world-class international musicians: percussionist B. C. Manjunath, vocalist Aditya Prakash, bassist Nina Harries, violinist Clarice Rarity, and saxophonist Tamar Osborn.

» As Vincenzo Lamagna’s fine score builds in volume and intensity, Khan gives us the failing body, the breaking body, the body as repository of physical and psychic pain. The Guardian, Luke Jennings

» Both a tribute to and a lament for the 1.5 million Indian soldiers who fought in the trenches of the First World War, it expands beyond its original intent to interrogate the purpose of humanity in an increasingly inhumane world. The Stage, Neil Norman

[FR] Depuis des années, Akram Khan partage avec le public du Grand Théâtre ses histoires et son histoire. Pour cette dernière soirée avec lui en tant que danseur solo, il se base sur les archives du XX^e siècle, évoquant l’expérience des soldats coloniaux de la Première Guerre mondiale. Plus de 4 millions d’hommes non blancs ont été mobilisés par les armées européennes et américaines pendant le conflit, dont environ 1,5 million originaires d’Inde. XENOS raconte le sort de ces soldats survivants, mutilés et traumatisés, dont les histoires ont été jetées aux oubliettes après la montée du nationalisme indien. Séparés de leur propre histoire, ces oubliés de la Grande Guerre sont devenus des xénoï, des étrangers.

Accompagné sur scène par cinq musiciens internationaux de renom, Akram Khan nous emmène avec son vocabulaire chorégraphique mélangeant kathak classique et danse contemporaine à la rencontre de ces destins tragiques.

[DE] Seit Jahren verzaubert und begeistert Akram Khan das Publikum des Grand Théâtre mit seinen eindrucksvollen und sinnlichen Werken. Mit XENOS („Fremder“), seiner letzten Solo-Performance, greift er auf die Archive des 20. Jahrhunderts zurück und erinnert an die Erfahrungen der Kolonialsoldaten im Ersten Weltkrieg. Mehr als 4 Millionen nicht-weiße Männer, darunter etwa 1,5 Millionen Inder, wurden während des Konflikts von europäischen und amerikanischen Armeen mobilisiert. XENOS spricht über die Notlage der überlebenden, verstümmelten und traumatisierten Soldaten, deren Geschichten nach dem Aufstieg des indischen Nationalismus in Archiven vergraben wurden. Sie wurden zu Xenoï.

Begleitet von fünf Weltklasse-Musikern wird Akram Khan mit seiner Mischung aus traditionellem Kathak und zeitgenössischem Tanz dieses dunkle Kapitel der Geschichte auf die Bühne bringen.

[DIS]

Artistic Director, Choreographer & Performer Akram Khan Dramaturg Ruth Little Lighting Designer Michael Hulls Original Music Score & Sound design Vincenzo Lamagna Set Designer Mirella Weingarten Costume Designer Kimie Nakano Writer Jordan Tannahill Rehearsal Directors Mavin Khoo & Nicola Monaco  Dancer Akram Khan Musicians Nina Harries (double bass & vocals), B. C. Manjunath (percussions & konnakol), Tamar Osborn (baritone saxophone), Aditya Prakash (vocals), Clarice Rarity (violin)  Executive Producer Farooq Chaudhry Technical Director Richard Fagan Production Manager John Valente Stage Manager Marek Pomocki Lighting Engineer Stéphane Déjours Sound Engineer Julien Deloison Technician Russell Parker Project / Tour Manager Mashitah Omar Props made by Louise Edge from LFX props & special fx  The original music score was devised in collaboration with B. C. Manjunath, Aditya Prakash, Nina Harries, Andrew Maddick and Tamar Osborn and contains extracts from Requiem in D minor K. 626 (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire (traditional composition), Tu Karim (traditional composition), Chhap Tilak (Amir Khusro), Babul Mora (Nawab Wajid Ali Shah), Naiharwa (Kabir). Commissioned by 14-18 NOW: WW1 Centenary Art Commissions, supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England, and by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Co-produced by Onassis Cultural Centre – Athens; The Grange Festival Hampshire; Sadler’s Wells London; Hong Kong Cultural Centre; Théâtre de la Ville – Paris / La Villette – Paris; Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg; National Arts Centre Ottawa; The Center for China Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF); Centro Cultural de Belém; Festspielhaus, St. Pölten; Grec 2018 Festival de Barcelona; HELLERAU – European Center for the Arts Dresden; Tanz Köln; Edinburgh International Festival; Adelaide Festival; Festival Montpellier Danse 2018; Julidans Amsterdam; Canadian Stage Toronto; Romaeuropa Festival; Torinodanza festival / Teatro Stabile di Torino – Teatro Nazionale; Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts New York; University of California Berkeley; Danse Danse Montreal; Curve Leicester Sponsored by COLAS Supported by Arts Council England Akram Khan is an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells London and Curve Leicester. Produced during residency at The Grange, Hampshire and Onassis Cultural Centre – Athens

Jeudi 17 OCTOBRE 2019 à 20h00 (tickets) Vendredi 18 OCTOBRE 2019 à 20h00 (tickets) DURÉE 65 minutes (pas d'entracte) Adultes 25 €, 20 €, 15 € / Jeunes 8 € / Kulturpass bienvenu Lieu: Grand Théâtre / Grande Salle

[TICKETS]2019-10-17 20:00:00 27344+2019-10-18 20:00:00 27345

XENOS / Akram Khan Company - trailer from Akram Khan Company on Vimeo.