Bangladeshi Dance Touring France

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 25 October 2017 > What's On


If you missed the shows choreographed by Akram Khan that toured France last year, there is another chance to catch Chotto Desh between now and December, in Paris, Enghein, Dijon, Lyons and Grenoble.

Khan is a British-born Bangladeshi dancer and choreographer, whose work fuses classical Indian dance and stories with contemporary dance. His shows Until the Lions and Chotto Desh were sell-outs last year.

The 42-year-old Khan began his professional career at just 13, in Peter Brooks' mammoth production of the Indian epic The Mahabarata, which was nine hours long and toured the world for four years. The young Khan was trained in the classical Indian dance form Kathak, which means "story telling". But from the outset he was interested in other forms of dance too. He vividly describes going from being an introverted nobody at school into the most popular boy in the playground after a performing his version of Michael Jackson's "Thriller". After the long tour of The Mahabarata, he went on to train in contemporary dance.

He co-founded the Akram Khan Company in 2000. As a choreographer, Khan has worked with artists as different as actress Juliette Binoche, pop singer Kylie Minogue, sculptor Anish Kapoor or prima ballerina Sylvie Guillem. He also choreographed part of the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony.

Chotto Desh
Chotto Desh means "little homeland" (Bangladesh is "the homeland of the Bengali people"). It is a child-friendly reworking of Desh, a Akram Khan 80-minute solo piece drawing on his own experiences and ancestry, weaving together Bangladeshi and British myths. It is billed as a family production, but you don't have to be a kid, or even take any with you, to appreciate this masterful, magical solo.

Find all the dates for both shows around France below.
You can find more information about reservations on the Akram Khan Company site.

24 October - 4 November
Theatre de la Ville, Paris

26-27 November
Centre des Arts d'Enghein-les-Bains

29 - 30 November 2017
Association Bourguignonne Culturelle, Dijon

6-9 December
Maison de la Danse, Lyons

20-23 December
MC2: Grenoble



Notion(s) culturelle(s) : "Rencontres avec d’autres cultures"