October 03, 2006 -

OTTAWA -- Two of Europe’s most charismatic dance talents, choreographer-dancers Akram Khan (from the U.K.’s Akram Khan Company) and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (from Belgium’s Les Ballets C. de la B.) perform their new duet, zero degrees, in the Theatre of the National Arts Centre (NAC) on Friday, October 13 and Saturday October 14, 2006 at 19:30. The NAC is thrilled to be presenting the Canadian premiere of this NAC co-production.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see two of the world’s hottest dance artists working together for the first time. Akram Khan and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui combine contemporary Kathak and European tanztheater in a riveting search for the source, the ‘0’, at life’s core. zero degrees – which has won rave reviews on its world tour -- explores dual identities and polar opposites, with sets by world-renowned artist Antony Gormley and original music by acclaimed composer Nitin Sawhney (performed live).

FREE POST-SHOW CHAT WITH THE ARTISTS ON OCTOBER 13
MASTERCLASS WITH AKRAM KHAN ON OCTOBER 14

Akram Khan and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui met in 2000, when they quickly discovered strong similarities. Both are sons of Islamic families brought up in Europe, and both draw on this meeting of cultures in their work. However, each has developed his own distinct dance language. zero degrees began life as a private dialogue, just two dancers swapping ideas in the studio, and the intimacy that Khan and Cherkaoui discovered in rehearsal is etched deeply into the finished product, making the result riveting in performance. zero degrees is born out of their longing to create work together, and follows Akram and Larbi on a journey of power and submission, of belonging and not belonging, of knowing yourself and knowing another person. Inspired by their own dual identities, the two search for a middle point through polar opposites; birth/death, light/dark, chaos/order. The choreography itself is a riveting dialogue, as the two men trade moves from their different dance backgrounds.

Dance and text interact throughout zero degrees. The narrative core of the duet is based on a memorable journey Akram Khan made from Bangladesh to India. He was harassed by corrupt border guards who took his passport, he encountered a dead man in his train carriage, and none of his fellow passengers offered to help. Yet as Cherkaoui narrates the opening chapter of the anecdote with Khan, the unity of their voices, their shared gestures -- even their hesitations -- make it seem as though they lived through the story together. Compassion and confrontation take turns in the choreography. At times zero degrees is as pugilistic as a boxing match; at others it’s as polished as a classical pas de deux or as daring as martial arts. But what comes through most strongly is the bond between these two dancers.

Antony Gormley’s quirky contribution consists of a pair of life-like silicon dummies (molded from the bodies of Khan and Larbi) that function as doubles of the dancers. Inert but emotive, these figures spend most of the duet just standing witness, but every now and then they are manhandled into the choreography, adding resonance to the work. The specially commissioned score is a superbly eloquent piece of theatre music by composer/producer Nitin Sawhney, with his own unique East-meets-West sound. This is a rare chance to see four of today’s greatest artists join forces.

“This impressive quartet has produced a stylishly realised and endlessly fascinating piece of dance theatre. …They are a remarkable double act. Khan dances with amazing grace, strength and fluency; Larbi can turn himself into a pretzel.”

Debra Craine, The Times (London), July 2005

“The unfolding drama between them is transfixing not only because they are superb dancers but because their performance is given such strange and potent definition by its staging.”

Judith Mackrell, The Guardian (London), July 2005

“… the pair’s collaboration mesh[es] in a spectacularly new and unusual style.
…Khan dances with a strength, power and ruthlessness that is quite extraordinary -- his vitality and energy are boundless. Cherkaoui demonstrates his flexibility as he literally ties himself in knots and stands on his head in a manner both entertaining and surreal. The piece is honest, exquisite and intimate … It is narrated with impeccable timing, danced exquisitely and with character.”

Katie Phillips, The Stage online, July 2005

zero degrees (2005)
DIRECTED, CREATED, AND PERFORMED BY Akram Khan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
DRAMATURGY Guy Cools
MUSIC COMPOSED BY Nitin Sawhney
SCULPTOR Antony Gormley
PRODUCERS Akram Khan Company, Les Ballets C. de la B.

Akram Khan and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui perform zero degrees in the Theatre of the National Arts Centre on Friday, October 13 and Saturday, October 14, 2006 at 19:30. Tickets are $44.50, $42, and $32.50 for adults and $23.50, $22.25, and $17.50 for students (upon presentation of a valid student ID card). Tickets are available at the NAC Box Office (in person) and through Ticketmaster (with surcharges) at (613) 755-1111; Ticketmaster may also be accessed through the NAC’s website at www.nac-cna.ca. Same-day Live Rush tickets (subject to availability) for full-time students (aged 13-29) are $10 at the NAC Box Office between 14:00 and 18:00 on the day of performance only, upon presentation of a valid ‘Live Rush’ card. Groups of 10 or more save 15% to 20% off regular ticket prices to all NAC Music, Theatre and Dance performances; to reserve your seats, call 947-7000 ext. 384 or e-mail grp@nac-cna.ca.

Photos for all dance events can be viewed and downloaded at: www.nac-cna.ca/media/

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Information:
Gerald Morris, Marketing and Media Relations,
NAC Dance Programming
(613) 947-7000, ext. 249
gmorris@nac-cna.ca

AKRAM KHAN
Born in London to parents from Bangladesh, Akram Khan was schooled in the 500-year old Indian classical dance tradition of Kathak at The Academy of Indian Dance, under the tutelage of world-renowned guru Sri Pratap Pawar. He went on to study contemporary dance at De Montfort University and later at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds. As a teenager, he performed around the world, working with Pandit Ravi Shankar in The Jungle Book, and later in Mahabharata directed by Peter Brook. In 1999, he was invited by Jonathan Burrows to collaborate on a new duet set to the work of contemporary composer Kevin Volans. Later that year he won a Jerwood Foundation Choreography Award. In early 2000, Akram Khan was awarded a coveted position in the X-group choreographic laboratory, which brought 25 young dancers and choreographers from around the world together at Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s Brussels-based contemporary dance school, P.A.R.T.S. (Performing Arts Research and Training Studios). In August 2000, he launched his own company, which has gone on to appear at some of the most important contemporary dance festivals around the world. For his work in 2000, Khan was awarded Outstanding Newcomer to Dance Awards by both the Critics Circle-Dance Section and Time Out Live. In April 2001, Akram Khan was invited to be Choreographer in Residence for two years at the Royal Festival Hall in London. That summer, he was invited by Peter Brook to act in his film version of Hamlet. In December 2001, he was specially commissioned by The London Sinfonietta to create a new work to the music Related Rocks by Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg. In early 2002, Akram Khan was nominated for a Best Choreography Award by the Dance Critics Circle as well as a South Bank Dance Show Award. In March, he premiered Kaash, which has been a huge critical success and toured the world. His continued success as an emerging and innovative artist resulted in Khan becoming the subject of an ITV South Bank Show in October 2002. In December 2002, Akram Khan was nominated for a Nijinsky Award at the Monaco Dance Forum and Kaash was selected by the French magazine “Les Inrockuptibles” as the best dance show in France in 2002. April 2003 marked the completion of Khan’s highly successful tenure as Choreographer in Residence and heralded the beginning of his new status as an Associate Artist of the Royal Festival Hall, the first non-musician to be afforded this status.

SIDI LARBI CHERKAOUI
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui studied at P.A.R.T.S. (Performing Arts Research and Training Studios) in Brussels, the contemporary dance school directed by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker. There he was mostly influenced by the dance technique courses of William Forsythe (taught by Elisabeth Corbett and Thomas McManus), Pina Bausch (Dominique Dusjinski) and Trisha Brown (Lance Gries), as well as by theatre classes (Damiaan De Schrijver/STAN), sociology (Rudi Laermans), the history of dance, and, of course, by the Rosas repertoire. In 1995, he received the first prize for the Best Belgian Dance Solo in Ghent, in a competition launched by Alain Platel, founder of Les Ballets C. de la B. Alain then invited him to take part in Iets op Bach (1997-1998), a dance-theatre piece which toured the world. Rien de rien (2000), his first choreography as a member of the artistic core of Les Ballets C. de la B., toured throughout Europe (London, Paris, Copenhagen, Porto), winning the Special Prize in Belgrade at the BITEF festival in 2001. In Rien de rien, he worked closely with the Flemish cello player Roel Dieltiens (on music by Kodaly, Ligeti, and Gubaidulina), who shared the stage with the dancers. In this piece, Cherkaoui also worked with Damien Jalet, singer/dancer with Les Ballets C. de la B., who initiated him in the use of traditional Italian songs (and the ethno-musicology work of Giovanna Marini). In July 2002, he took part in the ‘Vif du Sujet’ at the Festival d’Avignon with his solo it (2002), directed by Wim Vandekeybus, with whom he worked closely on the choreography. In September 2002, he co-directed with Damien Jalet, Luc Dunberry and Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola (dancers/singers with Sasha Waltz), the choreography for D’avant (2002) for the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz in Berlin. This piece combines song (medieval songs from the 13th century) with contemporary dance, and was the first step towards Foi. In March 2003, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui showed his next choreography for Les Ballets C. de la B., Foi, a project that pursues the symbiosis between live music (14th century medieval music and traditional peasant songs) and contemporary dance and theatre. This time his musical partners were Dirk Snellings and his Capilla Flamenca (for the period music of Ars Nova) and Christine Leboutte (who has worked with Giovanna Marini) for the traditional Italian songs. In May 2004, Foi was awarded the prize for best choreography at the Movimentos Awards in Wolfsburg, Germany.

NITIN SAWHNEY
Multi-award-winning composer and musician Nitin Sawhney was born to Indian parents in Rochester, Kent, U.K., a stronghold for the fascistic National Front in the 1970s. Music brought a welcome relief. He studied Law at Liverpool University, where he met Sanjeev Bhaskar. They created the comedy Secret Asians, which spawned the BBC award-winning TV series Goodness Gracious Me. After a tour with the James Taylor Quartet, he formed The Jazz Tones and collaborated with tabla player Talvin Singh in the The Tihai Trio. Since his debut solo album Spirit Dance in 1993, his musical impetus to create a new Indo-western fusion has evolved apace. Migration (1995), Displacing the Priest (1996), Beyond Skin (1999) and Prophesy (2001) each explore religion, politics and the complexities of the Anglo-Asian experience. Recognition has come accordingly via a Mercury Music award nomination and the South Bank Show Award for Beyond Skin, a MOBO Award and a BBC Radio 3 Award for Prophesy. He's had two commissions from the BBC Proms and has written for artists the world over, including Sinead O'Connor and Paul McCartney. In addition, he has produced the Algerian Rai maestro Cheb Mami and re-mixed for Sting, and composed film and TV scores. With celebrities such as Madonna name-checking his work, Nitin Sawhney's musical vision “to open up to different ways of looking at the world” is assured for the foreseeable future. He first collaborated with Akram Khan on the solo Fix in 2000.

ANTONY GORMLEY
Antony Gormley was born in London in 1950. After his schooling at the Benedictine Monastic School in Ampleforth, Yorkshire, he read archaeology, anthropology and history of art at Trinity College, Cambridge (1968-71). After university, Gormley travelled in the Near and Middle East, studying Vipassana meditation with a Burmese teacher, S N Goenka, in India (1971-74). It was at this point that he chose to become a sculptor. He studied sculpture at the Central School of Fine Art (1974), but after a year transferred to Goldsmiths College, London (1975-77), before going on to do a postgraduate course in sculpture at the Slade School of Fine Art (1977-79). The image of inner self as expressed in the outer form of the body has engaged Gormley throughout his career, in the marriage of casts of his own body and the mystery these invoke. ‘Mould 1981’ was his first lead body sculpture. From then on he developed a vast range of work based on his own body, moulded in lead, cast in iron, or in negative form in concrete. Milestone works include ‘Sound II 1986’, a lead and fibreglass figure in the crypt of Winchester Cathedral (when the crypt floods, the cupped hands spill water back into the pool where the figure stands); ‘Field 1991’, an assembly of 35,000 terracotta figures, each between 8 and 26 cm tall, that crowd the place in which they are exhibited, allowing the viewer only visual access; and the widely acclaimed ‘Angel of the North 1995-98’ at Gateshead, which has a wing-span of 54 metres. Recent developments in Gormley's sculpture have given rise to very different forms: sculptures in which the figure is described by a cloud-like aura of welded steel bars, and a series of forms expressing the inner self, sharply defined and extremely dense. Winner of the Turner Prize in 1994, Antony Gormley is acclaimed internationally. With solo and group exhibitions in Europe, Scandinavia, America, Japan and Australia, his sculptures have been acquired by many public and private collections around the world. In 1998, Gormley was awared the OBE for services to sculpture.

Akram Khan Dance Workshop
Workshop open to advanced level pre-professional dance artists

Saturday, October 14, 2006
1:00-3:00 pm

Drawing inspiration from Kathak (Indian Classical Dance) and contemporary dance, Akram Khan will introduce participants to a personalised technique, which he has developed through his own rigorous training and experience in both of these disciplines.

The classes will focus on storytelling through rhythmical patterns, text and movement; will explore what it feels to be expressing on top of the body, within the body and through the body; will de-construct the principles of Kathak and introduce participants to the structures, physical dynamics and the storytelling aspect of Akram’s own work.

Participants will be expected to have creative input and examine with Akram various methods of improvisation leading to the development of their own material and movement ideas/structures.

LOCATION: Rehearsal Hall B, National Arts Centre, 53 Elgin Street, Ottawa (Enter by Stage Door)
COST: $15, payable in cash on site.

Maximum 20 participants. You must RESERVE a place in the class.
Leave a message for Renata Soutter, Dance Outreach Coordinator, at (613) 947-7000 ext. 588 or soutter@magma.ca