Akram Khan
Festival of Ideas
Saturday 15 September 2018 7.30 - 8.30pm
The Benjamin West Lecture Theatre, Burlington Gardens, Royal Academy of Arts
£20, £12 concessions
Akram Khan, one of the most respected dance artists working in the UK today, joins writer and broadcaster Sarah Crompton to talk about his lifelong passion for dance, the power of storytelling and the joys and challenges of creative collaboration.
Often credited with injecting classical Indian dance into contemporary choreography, Khan's reputation has been built on the success of imaginative, vivid and prescient productions. He recently performed his final solo production XENOS at London’s Sadlers Wells to great critical acclaim and is now exploring future collaborations with filmmakers, actors and artists.
Over the course of his 20 year career he has worked with a range of artists from other cultures and disciplines including Juliette Binoche, Kylie Minogue, Anish Kapoor RA, Anthony Gormley RA, Steve Reich and Nitin Sawney. He has worked extensively with the English National Ballet and its Artistic Director Tamara Rojo. He created the short piece Dust, part of the Lest We Forget programme, which led to an invitation to create his own critically-acclaimed version of the iconic romantic ballet Giselle.
Khan has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout his career including the Laurence Olivier Award, the Bessie Award (New York Dance and Performance Award), the South Bank Sky Arts Award and six Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards. Khan was awarded an MBE for services to dance in 2005. He is also an Honorary Graduate of University of London, as well as Roehampton and De Montfort Universities, and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Laban.
This event will be chaired by writer and broadcaster Sarah Crompton and followed by a Q&A.
DJ performance: Hannah Faith
Free
Every Friday and Saturday evening throughout our Festival of Ideas we’ve invited some of our favourite DJs to takeover the Royal Academy, performing eclectic sets of dance, house, disco and electronica in Burlington Gardens' Wohl Entrance Hall.
South London based DJ and sound curator Hannah Faith is deeply influenced by her travels throughout the globe, reflected in her electric soul, jazz-funk and afro-house infused sets. She’s performed numerous Boiler Room sets, featured on Gilles Peterson’s radio station Worldwide FM, and now regularly hosts shows on Rinse FM and NTS.