Akram Khan in GIGENIS: The Generation Of The Earth Comes to The Joyce

 The Joyce Theater Foundation will bring its Fall ‘24/Winter ‘25 season to a close with choreographer Akram Khan and his latest full-length work, GIGENIS: The generation of the Earth. This ode to tradition, connecting the ancient to the present, will play The Joyce Theater for five performances only from February 12-16. 

Drawing on his own lineage of classical Indian Kathak and contemporary dance, award-winning choreographer Akram Khan has spent more than two decades developing a distinct voice as an advocate for cross-cultural encounters. In his newest work, GIGENIS: The generation of the Earth, Khan shares the stage with a distinguished ensemble of classical Indian dance artists, including Kutiyattam artist Kapila Venu, Bharatanatyam soloists Mavin Khoo and Mythili Prakash, the Bharatanatyam duo Vijna Vasudevan and Renjith Babu as well as Nrityagram artist Sirikalyani Adkoli. Khan invokes memories across time and place to celebrate these artists' collective love of dance. Drawing from his deep-seated connection to ritual practices and his ability to weave narratives through movement, GIGENIS: The generation of the Earth is a testament to the enduring resonance of tradition in a rapidly changing world.

 

Gigenis is produced by Productions Sarfati. Presented thanks to the support of Orsolina28 Art Foundation and Muse Art Foundation. In co-production with Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, Singapore; Sadler's Wells London; The Joyce Theater with the support of its Executive Director's Fund and Stephen and Cathy Weinroth Fund for New Work.

Akram Khan is one of the most celebrated and respected dance artists of today. In just over 24 years 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 Jungle Book reimagined, Outwitting the Devil, XENOS, Until the Lions, Kaash, iTMOi(in the mind of igor), DESH, Vertical Road, Gnosis and zero degrees.

 

As 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, choreographers/dancers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Israel Galván, singer Kylie Minogue, indie rock band Florence and the Machine, 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 highlight of his career was the creation of a section of the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony that was received with unanimous acclaim.

 

As a choreographer, Khan has developed a close collaboration with English National Ballet. He created the short piece TDust, part of the Lest We Forget program, which led to an invitation to create his own critically acclaimed version of the iconic romantic ballet Giselle. Creature is Khan's latest work for English National Ballet.

 

Khan has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout his career including two Laurence Olivier Awards, the Bessie Award (New York Dance and Performance Award), the prestigious ISPA (International Society for the Performing Arts) Distinguished Artist Award, the Fred and Adele Astaire Award, the Herald Archangel Award at the Edinburgh International Festival, the South Bank Sky Arts Award, and ten Critics' Circle National Dance Awards for his company, AKC. He was awarded an MBE for services to dance in 2005. In 2022, Khan was announced as the new Chancellor of De Montfort University, and he is also an Honorary Graduate of Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, University of London as well as Roehampton and De Montfort Universities, and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Laban. Khan is an Associate Artist of Sadler's Wells and Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, London as well as Curve.