Press Release: Akram Khan's iTMOi UK Premiere at Sadler's Wells 28 May - 1 June

[Jan McNulty]

Part of A String of Rites

 

Akram Khan Company

iTMOi (in the mind of igor)

UK PREMIERE
Tuesday 28 May – Saturday 1 June 2013      
Performances at 7.30pm

Tickets: £12 - £32

Ticket Office: 0844 412 4300 or www.sadlerswells.com

            

“(Khan) is a true choreographer – someone who asks what it is to be human and provides the answer in dance.” Evening Standard

Coinciding with the exact date 100 years ago when Igor Stravinsky’s masterpiece The Rite of Spring premiered in Paris, Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Akram Khan presents his latest work iTMOi (in the mind of igor), his first full length ensemble piece since Vertical Road in 2010.

iTMOi explores the human condition and the way in which Stravinsky transformed the classical music world by evoking emotions through pattern, rooted in the concept of a woman dancing herself to death.

With an original score by Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Nitin Sawhney, Jocelyn Pook and Ben Frost, iTMOi is another extraordinary artistic collaboration from Khan and his talented team, which includes costume designer Kimie Nakano, lighting designer Fabiana Piccioli, set designer Matt Deely, dramaturge Ruth Little and an international cast of 11 dancers.

Speaking about the work, Akram Khan said “iTMOi is a project that uses Stravinsky's life and work as a starting point, in which I focus on his seminal piece of music The Rite of Spring, and particularly the story of sacrifice as the main theme of his ambitious work. Here, I am fascinated by how human beings are capable of turning everything into a paradox; meaning turns into absurdity, justice into injustice, freedom into bondage.

“iTMOi is a piece for 11 dancers, and I am excited to be collaborating with 3 composers: Nitin Sawhney, Jocelyn Pook and Ben
Frost. I have also invited a great team of collaborators to create a world where 'beauty and ugliness' are ruptured to reveal how closely they interrelate with each other.”

When Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring was first performed in 1913, the music and choreography caused a near riot in the audience. It has since come to be regarded as one of the masterpieces of the 20th century and has been performed all over the
world in many different interpretations.

A String of Rites is a series of three events commissioned by Sadler’s Wells to mark the 100th anniversary of the premiere of Stravinsky’s masterpiece. Following on from Sadler’s Wells’ newest Associate Artist, Michael Keegan Dolan and Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre’s production of The Rite of Spring and Petrushka (11-13 April), iTMOi (in the mind of igor) is the second work in the series. The series is completed by RIOT Offspring (8 June) which will see a cast of approximately 80 non-professional participants of all ages and abilities explore their own perceptions of rites, rituals and riots, accompanied by a live orchestra playing Stravinsky’s original score for The Rite of Spring.

 

Notes to Editors:

iTMOi is
a co-production between Sadler's Wells, MC2: Grenoble, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg and HELLERAU: European Center for the Arts Dresden. iTMOi is supported by the Foyle Foundation. Akram Khan Company is sponsored by COLAS.

The Monument Trust supports co-productions and new commissions at Sadler’s Wells.

Follow Akram Khan on Facebook and Twitter: 

            Twitter:  @akramkhanlive

            Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AkramKhanCompany

About Akram Khan:

Akram Khan is one of the UK's most celebrated and respected dance artists. In just over a decade he has created a body of work that has contributed significantly to the cultural arts in the UK and abroad. His reputation has been built on the success of imaginative, highly accessible and relevant productions such as DESH, Vertical Road, Gnosis and zero degrees.

An instinctive and natural collaborator, Khan has been a magnet to world-class artists from other cultures and disciplines. His previous collaborators include the National Ballet of China, actress Juliette Binoche, ballerina Sylvie Guillem, choreographer/dancer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, singer Kylie Minogue, visual artists Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley and Tim Yip, writer Hanif Kureishi and composers Steve Reich, Nitin Sawhney and Jocelyn Pook.

Khan’s work is recognised as being profoundly moving, in which his intelligently crafted storytelling is effortlessly intimate and epic.
Described by the Financial Times as an artist "who speaks tremendously of tremendous things", a recent highlight of his career was the creation of a section of the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony that was received with unanimous acclaim.

Khan has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout his career including the Laurence Olivier Award, the prestigious ISPA
(International Society for the Performing Arts) Distinguished Artist Award, the South Bank Sky Arts Award and two Critics' Circle National Dance Awards. Khan was awarded an MBE for services to dance in 2005. He is also an Honorary Graduate of Roehampton and De Montfort Universities, and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Laban.

Khan is an Associate Artist of MC2: Grenoble and Sadler’s Wells, London in a special international co-operation.

            
About The Rite of Spring:

Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky was written for the 1913 season of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes company with choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky and designs by Nikolai Roerich.

When the ballet was first performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on 29 May 1913, the avant-garde nature of the music and choreography caused a near riot in the audience. It has since become one of the masterpiecesof the 20th century and has been performed all over the world in many different interpretations.