Sadler’s Wells have announced their Spring 2018 season, which sees Associate Artist Akram Khan in a new production, XENOS, giving his final performances as a dancer in a full-length piece.
Premiering in the New Year, Khan, one of the most celebrated and highly regarded dance makers working today, will perform sixteen years after the debut of his acclaimed first full-length production Kaash.
Meaning ‘stranger’ or ‘foreigner’, XENOS (29 May – 9 June 2018) is inspired by Greek mythology with a particular focus on the myth of Prometheus, and by specific events from the First World War. Working from a text by acclaimed playwright Jordan Tannahill, alongside his world-class team of collaborators Khan will draw on the story of a shell-shocked Indian soldier trapped in a trench.
The London performances mark the opening night of the 14-18 NOW, the UK’s arts programme for the First World War centenary, commemoration season.
Akram Khan said “My interest lies in both the mythological body and the technological body. I want to explore our connection with our past and our future, investigating specific questions that confront me more and more every day, such as how does ‘myth’ play a part in today’s society?”
Other highlights of Sadler’s Wells’ Spring 2018 season include: the 15 year anniversaries of two major festivals introduced under Alistair Spalding’s artistic directorship – the Flamenco Festival and the theatre’s acclaimed annual festival of international hip hop dance theatre Breakin’ Convention. The season also celebrates the 10th anniversary of one of Sadler’s Wells’ longest running productions Sutra.
UK Premieres include summer show Carmen La Cubana featuring Bizet’s classic score, with new orchestrations by Tony Award-winner Alex Lacamoire (Hamilton), Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan’s much-anticipated Formosa, and award-winning duo Cecilia Bengolea and François Chaignaud’s DFS – the result of Bengolea’s immersion in Kingston, Jamaica’s defiant dance scene, and Chaignaud’s study of traditional medieval vocal polyphony repertory, stretching back hundreds of years.
Tickets for the Spring 2018 season are on public sale from Monday 6 November at 10am
For more information and for full season listings, visit the Sadler’s Wells website.