XENOS

Akram Khan is one of the most celebrated and respected dance artists today. In just over 17 years he has created a body of work that has contributed significantly to the arts in the UK and abroad.

He was born in Wimbledon, London, but his family is from Dhaka in Bangladesh. At the age of seven, he started to study the classical form of “kathak”, the South Asian dance, under Sri Pratap Pawar, who would later become his mentor.

At the age of 13, he took part in Peter Brook’s Shakespeare Company production of “Mahabharata”, with which he toured the world between 1987 and 1989. He also appeared in the televised version broadcast in 1988.

His segment of the opening ceremony for the 2012 London Olympics would prove to be another high point in his career, garnering unanimous praise from the public and critics alike.

He has won the Laurence Olivier award, a Bessie Award, the coveted International Society for the Performing Arts Distinguished Artist Award, and a number of other distinctions. He is an Associate Artist at both London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre and Curve in Leicester.

He has collaborated “inter alia” with the actress Juliette Binoche, the ballerina Sylvie Guillem, the dancers and choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Israel Galván, the singer Kylie Minogue, the artists Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley and Tim Yip, the author Hanif Kureishi, and the composers Steve Reich, Nitin Sawhney, Jocelyn Pook and Ben Frost.

The world première of Akram Khan’s latest work at the Onassis Stegi will be an event of international significance and the culmination of many years of successful collaboration between the artist and the Onassis Stegi. This will be Akram Khan’s third appearance at the Onassis Stegi. He has also performed at the Athens Festival and the Kalamata International Dance Festival.

Jordan Tannahill is a Canadian playwright, author, and director based in London. He has been described in the press as ‘the hottest name in Canadian theatre’ (“Montreal Gazette”) and ‘the posterchild of a new generation for whom ‘interdisciplinary’ is not a buzzword but a way of life’ (“The Globe and Mail”). He won the Governor General’s Award for Drama in 2014 for Age of Minority and was shortlisted for the prize again in 2016 for Concord Floral.

His films and multimedia performances have been presented at various festivals and galleries such as the Toronto Int. Film Festival, the British Film Institute, and the Tribeca Film Festival. From 2012-2016 he and William Ellis ran the influential artspace Videofag out of their home in Kensington Market. His 2015 book “Theatre of the Unimpressed” sits on the curriculum of theater programs across North America and the UK and first novel, “Liminal”, is forthcoming from House of Anansi Press. Jordan is currently working on a commission for the National Theatre and the film adapation of his play “Botticelli” in the Fire with filmmaker Stephen Dunn. His play “Late Company” transferred from the Finborough Theatre to the West End in August 2017.

Friday 23 February

After performance talk with Akram Khan
Moderated by Giorgos Mitropoulos, journalist