AKRAM KHAN

44, dancer and choreographer

will say, “That was a very good show, I’m really proud of you, but what do you do during the day?” She still thinks dance isn’t a proper job.

My mother was a very important figure. She recognised that I needed some structure to my love of movement and thought Kathak, classical Indian dance, would be the very thing. My relationship with my Kathak teacher, and being cast in Peter Brook’s nine-hour production of Sanskrit epic the Mahabharata when I was 13, cemented my decision to become a dancer.

Recently, my assistant rehearsal director, Mavin Khoo, and I were discussing how we both felt when we met, aged 18, at the beginning of our careers. We had no idea what would happen; we only wanted to do our art. What we were striving for was excellence rather than success. I think young people are more savvy now, but we were just so happy we had the opportunity to express ourselves.

There was a depressing time when the work wasn’t coming in and I wasn’t earning any money apart from the odd performance. In between I would return to my dad’s restaurant and he would say, “Why don’t you take over the business?” But I followed my dream, and I had a lot of good people who believed in me. I’ve been very lucky and I’m grateful for my success. Being involved in the London Olympics was pretty amazing. However, I never thought I would do the dark subjects that I do, like Lest We Forget [about the horrors of the First World War] and Giselle [set in the world of migrant factory workers]. As a child, I was a happygo-lucky dreamer, but now I’m more pessimistic. The world is in chaos and my work has become more political.

Each artist’s relationship with their body is different. I love being on stage. I am performing my last solo tour until 2020. I will still dance after that because I need to move, but I’ll move differently, and less.

What would surprise my younger self would be that I’d have married twice. I wish I was a better father. I’m not around much; it’s difficult when you’re travelling the world. My wife is effectively a single mother. I didn’t know that I wanted to have children; that’s been a beautiful revelation. They give me great hope and they teach me so much about myself. They are very young, just three and five, and to see them dancing is very special.

When I was little, I was always telling stories, fooling people and playing different characters. I think if my younger self could see me now, he’d tell me to chill out, laugh more and have fun.

Interview by Boudicca Fox-Leonard

Akram Khan Company performs Xenos at Leicester Curve tonight. Lest We Forget is at Sadler’s Wells until Sept 29

FINDING MY FEET Aged 10 inbelow; with Juliette Binoche, bottom left