Gnosis

source: movimento

Gnosis, que significa conhecimento em grego, é o mais recente solo de Akram Khan. Combinando suas raízes de dança clássica indiana com a cultura contemporânea, ele apresenta um embate entre dois mundos opostos: o da tradição e o da inovação. A partir de motivos clássicos de dois trabalhos anteriores, Polaroid Feet e Tarana, Khan segue por uma trilha de transformação e perseguição da ideia de “conhecimento interior”, em que se depara com as batalhas resultantes do confronto de diversos aspectos do ser humano, e também do humano e do divino. Inspirada no épico hindu Mahabharata, a performance tem a participação de excelentes músicos da Índia, Japão, Paquistão e Reino Unido. Muito festejado pelos críticos, o espetáculo Gnosis recebeu o South Bank Sky Award de Dança em 2011.

Akram Khan – diretor artístico, coreógrafo e bailarino
Nascido em Londres em uma família originária de Bangladesh, Akram Khan começou a dançar aos sete anos e estudou com o renomado bailarino e professor de kathak, Sri Pratap Pawar.
Começou a fazer apresentações solo de seu trabalho nos anos 1990, mantendo seu envolvimento tanto com o kathak clássico como com a dança moderna. Em agosto de 2000, inaugurou a Akram Khan Dance Company com o produtor Farooq Chaudhry, que lhe proporcionou uma plataforma para a inovação e uma diversidade de criações em colaboração com artistas de outras disciplinas.
Seu trabalho anterior, In-I, um dueto com a atriz vencedora de Oscar Juliette Binoche, design de Anish Kapoor, empreendeu uma grande turnê internacional. Já bahok, uma criação com sua companhia, originalmente produzido em colaboração com o Balé Nacional da China, recebeu a aclamação da crítica e completou a turnê internacional em maio de 2010.
Akram recebeu muitos prêmios ao longo de sua carreira, entre os quais o prestigioso Helpmann Award (2007) por Melhor Coreografia e Melhor Bailarino (zero degrees) em Sydney, bem como o The Age Critics’ Award, por melhor trabalho inédito (Vertical Road) no Melbourne Arts Festival, em 2010. Recebeu em 2005 um MBE (Membro da Ordem do Império Britânico) por sua contribuição para a dança e um Honorary Doctorate of Arts das universidades de Roehampton e De Montfort.
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source: etatcritiquebloglemondefr

Le titre est un peu trompeur : Gnosis n’est en fait que le dernier morceau de danse prévu par le programme, et malheureusement il ne dure que 25 minutes, c’est-à-dire un tiers du spectacle. Les deux chorégraphies qui précèdent (l’une, signée Gauri Sharma Tripathi, et l’autre, Sri Pratap Pawar) ne sont pas de nouvelles créations, mais un hommage, dirais-je, à la dance indienne traditionnelle dans laquelle Khan a été formé dès l’enfance, le kathak.

Noir. Soudainement, du fond, un chemin s’illumine au centre de la scène ; une figure (Yoshie Sunahata) apparaît et s’avance jusqu’à un grand tambours taiko placé à la fin du chemin. Tout est dans le silence, l’atmosphère sacrée, solennelle. Dos au public, la jeune japonaise commence à frapper sur le tambours, dans un crescendo qui fait frémir le public.

Ainsi est introduit Akram Khan, qui dansera en solo pendant que cinq musiciens l’accompagnent : sur une mélodie indienne (construite par le son du sithar et des tablas et la voie de Faheem Mazhar), ce sont les gestes du kathak, que Khan montre posséder entièrement, avec une maîtrise extrême du rythme et du corps dans l’espace. Entre ampleur de mouvements et brusques arrêts, jeux fluides de mains et rapidité de pieds, ornés de cymbales, sa danse transmet toute la sagesse de sa tradition, et le passé semble éternel.

Après, donc, Polaroid Feet et Tarana, suit un moment tout à fait inattendu, où Akram Khan prend le micro et parle au public, en présentant ses musiciens et en faisant de bonnes blagues. Il improvisera, ensuite, vocalement et physiquement sur les mesures rythmiques du kathak en duo avec Sanju Sahai aux tablas. C’est un moment exhilarant, peut-être un peu « petite leçon de danse et musique indiennes », mais certainement un moyen efficace de faire connaître les trames de la construction artistique traditionnelle du kathak.

La vrai surprise de la soirée est (enfin !) Gnosis, et avec cela, Yoshie Sunahata : c’est autour d’elle, en effet, que tourne la représentation, et c’est elle, plus que Khan, qui crée l’ambiance majestueuse et rituelle requise par l’histoire racontée – la cécité volontaire à laquelle s’est soumise la reine Ghandari, personnage de l’épopée hindoue Mahabharata. Ayant quitté ses tambours taiko, sa présence sur scène est d’une profondeur exceptionnelle ; ses capacités vocales et ses mouvements remplis de sens, rappelant parfois des cérémonies sacrées japonaises, assurent la réussite de la pièce et l’enthousiasme du public.

Si on regrette, par moments, que les possibilités expressives qui dérivent à Akram Khan de sa formation, à la fois, dans le kathak et dans la danse contemporaine, ne sont pas suffisamment exploitées – c’est la tradition qui l’emporte, sans aucun doute – on apprécie ce spectacle pour le message qu’il semble transmettre : utiliser le corps et la danse, dans la musique, pour communiquer un sens spirituel, même en racontant les histoires qui recèlent ce sens, ce n’est pas une affaire obsolète ni locale, mais moderne et globale.
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source: mercatflorscat

Akram Khan es uno de los coreógrafos más aclamados y respetados de la danza actual. En poco más de una década su trabajo ha contribuido de manera significativa al mundo de las artes y la cultura en el Reino Unido y en el mundo. Su reputación se ha fundamentado en el éxito de producciones imaginativas, accesibles y relevantes como DESH, iTMOi, Vertical Road, Gnosis y zero degrees, varias de las cuales se han podido ver en Barcelona.
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source: akramkhancompanynet

Gnosis is a recent work by Akram Khan in which he combines his classical Indian and contemporary dance roots. It begins with Khan revisiting the classical motifs of two earlier solos, Polaroid Feet and Tarana. We follow him on a pathway of transformation, culminating in a shattering conclusion. Pursuing the idea of the ‘knowledge within’, it is an exploration of the inner and outer battles of characters, the human and the godly.

Drawing from sources both ancient and modern, Gnosis is also inspired by the Hindu epic Mahabharata, in particular the story of Gandhari, the wife of the blind king who blindfolds herself for life to share his journey. It explores the notion of inner knowledge and clouded vision, seeing darkness and yet being blind to light.

Khan is accompanied on stage by an ensemble of exceptional musicians from around the world and acclaimed guest artist Fang-Yi Sheu, from Taiwan.
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source: akramkhancompanynet

In July 1999 in the foyer of the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, an animated and curiosity-filled conversation took place between the young gifted dancer/choreographer Akram Khan and an ambitious former dancer and just recently graduated arts manager Farooq Chaudhry. That conversation laid the foundation stone for a dynamic collaboration, culminating in the creation of Akram Khan Company one year later.

Inspired by Akram Khan’s early training in the Indian classical dance form Kathak, and the hybrid language that organically emerged when Akram’s kathak training encountered contemporary dance in his teens, a vision began to form, fuelled by a desire to learn and create through collaboration with the very best people across all the disciplines in the arts.

The rules were simple: take risks, think big and daring, explore the unfamiliar, avoid compromise and tell stories through dance that are compelling and relevant, with artistic integrity.

In just over fourteen years Akram Khan Company is now undisputedly one of the foremost innovative dance companies in the world. The programmes range from kathak and modern solos to artist-to-artist collaborations and ensemble productions. The company has a major international presence and enjoys busy tours that reach out to many cultures and peoples across the globe. Akram Khan has been the recipient of numerous international dance awards, the most notable being an Olivier Award for his solo production DESH in 2012.

A milestone in the company’s journey was the creation of a section of the London Olympic Games Opening Ceremony in 2012.

Akram Khan Company is currently practitioner-in-residence at University of the Arts London, and enjoys artistic associations with Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London, MC2: Grenoble in France and other leading venues and festivals around the world.

vision
Akram Khan Dance Company journeys across boundaries to create uncompromising artistic narratives.

mission
Akram Khan Company produces thoughtful, provocative and ambitious dance productions for the international stage.

Akram Khan takes human themes and works with others to take them to new and unexpected places – embracing and collaborating with other cultures and disciplines.

The dance language in each production is rooted in Akram Khan’s classical Kathak and modern dance training and his fascination with storytelling. The work continually evolves to communicate ideas that are intelligent, courageous and new, bringing with it international acclaim and recognition as well as artistic and commercial success.
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source: theguardian

A disarming warmth is in place as we settle into our seats. The curtain is up. There’s a little smoke in the air. The stage is stripped back. Six musicians are tuning up: singers, cello, violin. It feels familiar, comfortable. Then without warning, two drums break into the most perfect rain shower imaginable: a welcoming skin on skin. The other musicians bring palm to palm, hands as gentle percussion. Polaroid Feet, created in 2001 by Indian classical exponent Gauri Sharma Tripathi, and part of this deftly wrought programme reprised from 2009-10, begins our evening with an exquisite rain-way to heaven.

As the small band of international musicians from London, India and Austria build kaleidoscopic patterns of rhythm, Akram Khan, dancer, choreographer, modestly charismatic showman, steps out from a central shaft of light, the literal star, bells shimmering around his ankles, feet drumming the ground, sole on soul, those all-important hands working the space like a pair of hungry hummingbirds. He darts and spins with a gliding, repetitive grace that nods to the music and musicians, weaving magic with the textures of kathak, the ancient dance form of northern India. With Khan masterfully in charge, transcendence is in the air.

Polaroid Feet blends into Tarana, another superb classical piece by Sri Pratap Pawar. Whirring with energy, Khan’s pleasure as performer is both his and ours. We are delighted, too, that he introduces his company during a pause before the short, miraculous improvisation of Unplugged brings the first half to joyous conclusion.

All change after the interval. The bells are off in Khan’s 2009 work, Gnosis (knowledge), inspired by a story from the Mahabharata that tells of Gandhari, the wife who blindfolded herself for life to empathise with her blind prince. It’s a massive tale abbreviated into a dramatic duet of ambiguous characterisation across gender and relationship (mother, wife, son, husband), drawing Kathak into a psychologically charged abstraction.

Joining Khan is Fang-Yi Sheu, a leading interpreter of the Martha Graham tradition. She explodes brilliantly into life, to the rattle of a military drum, her stance triangular, regal, her gestures grand and piercing. But her power falters as he/she tries to navigate the space, an action only possible with a stick.

An almost implausible wealth of meaning is encapsulated in this brief rendition of relationship, loss, wisdom and faith, but there is raw beauty here. And when Khan’s head convulses with intensity at the moment of possession, it is a stupendous moment. Somewhere, the light is switched on.