Kelly Apter
Akram Khan tells why his role in the blisteringly paced and inventive Xenos will be his last as a dancer in a full-length production
Afreshly washed costume hangs against the wall, ankle bells lie silent on a nearby table, and flowers and good luck cards festoon the dressing room. As I wait for Akram Khan to arrive, the distant sound of musicians tuning up is piped through the intercom, adding to the sense of anticipation.
In a few hours’ time, Khan will step onto the stage at London’s Sadler’s Wells theatre to perform Xenos ,his final full-length show as a dancer. The costume on the wall will spin and weave with his body, the bells on the table will match the percussive pounding of his feet, and yet another indelible mark will be left on his audience.
Because that’s what Khan does: makes you remember him. It was May 2002 when I saw him dance for the first time, but it may as well have been yesterday, the memory is so strong. I took my partner along – a dance newbie – and he was so blown away I invited him to see another dance company a month later. I’ll never forget the disappointment on his face as we left the theatre: “They’re not all like Akram Khan, then?” No, they’re not.
But this August will be the last time I see Khan dance. Xenos will tour internationally so the end isn’t quite in sight for him yet – but for his audience, it’s time to say goodbye. At the age of 43, Khan is shifting his emphasis to choreography, creating work for others rather than himself. He’ll still train and dance in his back garden studio, and we may well see him pop up in group pieces – but that spellbinding, stage-dominating, attention-grabbing soloist we know and love is hanging up his bells.
For us onlookers, little has changed – Khan can still deliver lightning-fast turns, throw out his arms as if they’re not attached to his body and stamp his feet with authority. But for him, the young boy who copied Michael Jackson videos, danced between tables in his father’s restaurant, and performed his own unique blend of Indian Kathak and contemporary dance, is no more.
“I think he’s abandoned my body,” says Khan. “I feel my mind is dancing now. And that became really clear when I was choreographing Giselle for English National Ballet – I realised that I don’t need my body, that my mind can dance through other people’s bodies.
“So I’ll continue to train, but for myself. And I’ll continue to do smaller projects, because I need to stay in touch, to remind myself what it feels like on stage, otherwise how can I relate to the dancers I’m working with? But I was so excited every second of working on Giselle, and my team could feel that something had shifted in me. That’s when I knew that Xenos was going to be my last.”
Greek for “stranger” or “foreigner”, Xenos is inspired by the legend of Prometheus and the untold story of the 1.5 million Indian soldiers