Press Release: TOROBAKA (Akram Khan & Israel Galván) returns to Sadler's Wells, 30 June-5 July

[Jan McNulty]

A Sadler’s Wells co-production
Akram Khan & Israel Galván
TOROBAKA
Sadler’s Wells 
Tuesday 30 June - Sunday 5 July 
Tues - Sat at 7.30pm (except Thursday), Sun at 4pm
Tickets: £12 - £38
Ticket Office: 0844 412 4300 or www.sadlerswells.com  

Following the success of its UK premiere last November, Akram Khan and Israel Galván return to Sadler’s Wells with their collaboration TOROBAKA, a Sadler’s Wells co-production, from Tuesday 30 June to Sunday 5 July. With this artistic exchange, Khan and Galván have incorporated elements of kathak and flamenco to create something altogether distinct, defying classification or genre. 

TOROBAKA brought these two highly celebrated and respected dancers together for the first time. The show aims to bring to life the ancient historical link between the musical and dance traditions of Southern Spain and Northern India. But rather than mimicking one another or simply performing the classical dances, the two dancers seek to create something new, current and contemporary, by better understanding each other’s approaches. 

The name TOROBAKA refers to the sacred animals of the two dancers’ respective traditions – the bull (in Spanish, toro) and the cow (in Spanish, vaca) – and represents the marriage of the two cultures and histories on stage. 

The name also refers to a 1920 Dadaist poem by Romanian French avant-garde performance artist Tristan Tzara which inspired the dancers in their collaboration. The poem evokes the oral vocalisation of rhythm through particular syllables and phonetics, which is typical in both kathak and flamenco. The dancers are accompanied by vocalists and percussionists from Spain, Belgium and India. 

Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Akram Khan is one of the most exciting UK dancers and choreographers today and has, in just over a decade, created a highly imaginative, accessible and relevant body of work, including productions such as DESH, Vertical Road, Gnosis and zero degrees.

The multi-award-winning Israel Galván has been at the forefront of contemporary flamenco for over 20 years and has appeared several times at Sadler’s Wells’ Flamenco Festival. He is known for his innovative choreography and exquisitely daring dancing technique. 

Akram Khan said: "TOROBAKA has been a journey full of subtle discoveries. The piece is constantly changing, because we are students of change, and only by telling and re-telling our stories do we truly begin to understand them. I am thrilled to be bringing such an exciting project back to Sadler’s Wells, sharing with the audience the infectious rhythms of the mighty traditions of kathak and flamenco.”

Galván says: “It is always an honour to grace the Sadler’s Well’s stage so I’m delighted to be returning to the London audience. Many people are not aware of the shared historical roots of kathak and flamenco, and with TOROBAKA Akram and I have redefined the boundaries of our own respective dance traditions. We always hope it proves an equally enriching encounter for our audience.” 


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


NOTES TO EDITORS:

Sadler’s Wells
Sadler's Wells is a world leader in contemporary dance, committed to producing, commissioning and presenting new works and to bringing the very best international and UK dance to London and worldwide audiences. Under the Artistic Directorship of Alistair Spalding the theatre’s acclaimed year-round programme spans dance of every kind, from contemporary to flamenco, Bollywood to ballet, salsa to street dance and tango to tap. Since 2005 it has helped to bring over 90 new dance works to the stage and its international award-winning commissions and collaborative productions regularly tour the world. Sadler’s Wells supports 16 appointed world class Associate Artists, three Resident Companies and an Associate Company and nurtures the next generation of talent through hosting the National Youth Dance Company, its Summer University programme, its Wild Card initiative and its New Wave Associates.

Located in Islington in north London, the current theatre is the sixth to have stood on the site since it was first built by Richard Sadler in 1683. The venue has played an illustrious role in the history of theatre ever since, with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Opera all having started at Sadler’s Wells.

Sadler’s Wells is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation and currently receives approximately 9% of its revenue from Arts Council England. 

Akram Khan
Akram Khan is one of the most celebrated and respected dance artists today. In just over a decade he has created a body of work that has contributed significantly to the arts in the UK and abroad. His reputation has been built on the success of imaginative, highly accessible and relevant productions such as DESH, iTMOi, 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, Jocelyn Pook and Ben Frost.

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 Bessie Award (New York Dance and Performance Award), the prestigious ISPA (International Society for the Performing Arts) Distinguished Artist Award, the Herald Archangel Award at the Edinburgh International Festival, 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 Roehampton and De Montfort Universities, and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Laban.

Khan is an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells, London. 

Israel Galván
Israel Galvá́n de los Reyes was awarded the National Dance Prize 2005, “Creation” section, by the Culture Department of the Spanish Government, for “his capacity to generate a new creation in an art such as flamenco without forgetting the real roots that have sustained it to the present day and that make of it a universal genre". In 2012 he was honored with the New York Bessie Performance Award for an Outstanding Production and the Fine Arts Medal awarded by the Council of Ministers of Spanish Government.

Son of sevillian bailaores Jose Galván and Eugenia de Los Reyes, he naturally grew up within the atmosphere oftablaos, fiestas and flamenco dance academies, where he used to accompany his father. But it was only in 1990 that he really felt like becoming a dancer.

In 1994, he joined the Compañía Andaluza de Danza, directed by Mario Maya, and this was the beginning of an unstoppable career that would bring him the most important awards in flamenco (and) dance.

He has done many collaborations in projects of very different nature and with very different artists such as Enrique Morente, Manuel Soler, Pat Metheny, Vicente Amigo and Lagartija Nick. In 1998 Israel premiered ¡Mira! / Los Zapatos Rojos, his first creation. Praised by all the critics as a stroke of genius, it was effectively a revolution in the entire conception of flamenco shows. Since then he has presented productions such as La Metamorfosis, Galvánicas, Arena, La Edad De Oro, Tábula Rasa, Solo, El Final De Este Estado De Cosas - Redux, Israel vs Los 3000, La Curva and Lo Real/Le Réel/The Real, for which he received 3 Premios Max de Teatro (awards) in May 2014: best dance production, best choreography and best dancer. He has also created La Francesa and Pastora for his sister Pastora Galván.

Galván is an Associate Artist of Théâtre de la Ville Paris and Mercat de les Flors Barcelona.