Akram Khan Company Presents JUNGLE BOOK REIMAGINED This November

Akram Khan returns to Danse Danse with Jungle Book reimagined, an ambitious reinvention of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. These Montreal dates mark the end of the Canadian leg of the work's international tour, equally ambitious in its environmental commitments and adoption of innovative eco-friendly practices. From November 1-4, 2023 at Théâtre Maisonneuve of the Place des Arts.

Jungle Book reimagined brings to the 21st century the story of Mowgli, here a climate refugee. Arriving alone in a deserted urban jungle where wild animals have taken over the streets, the child soon discovers some unlikely allies. Combining dance, theater, animation, and video projections, this creation personifies the precariousness of our ecosystems and, by bringing the animals of the jungle into the heart of our cities, reminds us that human beings are not the owners of the Earth, but merely one among its many guests.

This story is particularly significant for Akram Khan, who played the "man cub" at the age of 10 in a local production. For this reimagining, the choreographer brought together an exceptional creative team, with a script by Tariq Jordan, dramaturgy by Sharon Clark, and an original, inventive score by Jocelyn Pook–built, in part, on the loops of Greta Thunberg's speeches–to seize upon Kipling's book 129 years after its publication and create a moving show and a powerful appeal to the urgency of inventing a new world together.

An Eco-Friendly Tour

On tour since April 2022, it was important to Akram Khan that the show reflect the message it embodies, and that it be able to travel sustainably (by the end of the year, it will have visited 47 cities across 4 continents). Indeed, the work was conceived without a physical set so as to minimize the carbon footprint of its tour. All the spaces are thus created by the bodies of the ten dancers, who have meticulously studied animal gestures in order to reproduce them on stage. Accompanied and amplified by animations and video projections designed by the studio YeastCulture, they bring these creatures of the jungle to life, transforming the stage into a magical world that awakens the senses and reconnects our hearts to nature.

Akram Khan is one of the most celebrated and respected dance artists today. In the last 22 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.

Khan's choreography is the embodiment of shared exploration across multiple disciplines and cultures. 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 and 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 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 nine Critics' Circle National Dance Awards. He is an Associate Artist of Sadler's Wells and Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, London as well as Curve. He was awarded an MBE for services to dance in 2005 and, in 2022, was announced as the new Chancellor of De Montfort University.

Jungle Book reimagined is the 7th work by Akram Khan to be presented at Danse Danse, which had previously welcomed Ma in 2005, ln-l in 2009, Vertical Road in 2011, iTMOi in 2014, Until the Lions in 2017, and XENOS in 2019.

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