Blog Post Six - Critique 1 - Akram Khan - KAASH

Akram Khan's KAASH was created in 2002, and is a 55 minute piece with a cast of five international dancers one male and four females (the piece also includes Khan himself). Khan chose not to use dancers classically trained in Indian dance as he feels they already have boundaries that can be difficult to break away from. (Burt, 2016) The musical score was commissioned by Nitin Sawhney and set design by sculptor Anish Kapoor. The word 'KAASH' in Hindu translates to 'what if' and the piece explores themes of aspects of the Hindu God Shiva. The piece is split up into three different sections that explore these aspects such as Shiva's meditative nature, cosmic violence, and the eternal cycle of creation and destruction which he initiates. (Burt, 2016)The piece takes themes from Indian mythology but through development also draws upon European and Indian dance traditions. 'KAASH' is a piece aimed to continue building the bridge between the worlds of contemporary and the Indian classical dance form Kathak. (Akram Khan Company, 2015)

Akram Khans 'KAASH' was very much a collaborative piece between composer Sawhney, sculptor Kapoor and himself, and although the piece had an overarching theme of aspects of the Hindu God Shiva each collaborator displayed and explored different amounts of freedom in interpreting this.

Some of the dancers in the piece perform solo's however the whole cast are dressed the same in black garments tight to the body and long flowy skirts on the bottom. This gives a sense of unity and community in the piece. The piece is performed on a proscenium arch stage, this separates the dancers and audience, and adds a visual frame around the piece. This adds depth to the stage and a sense of space surrounding the dancers. (Burt, 2016)

There are many components that could suggest symbolism or hidden narrative throughout the piece however Khan also incorporates lots of classical Indian Kathak Mudras (hand gestures) often in moments of stillness in-between dynamic movement. These hand gestures directly relate to Shiva so are purposeful to the piece but have no direct story in sequence. (Burt, 2016)

The structure of the piece could be described as cyclical as at the beginning of the piece a male dancer appears on stage standing still, with arms by his side and back towards the audience. Not long after a female dancer walks onto the stage and appears to whisper something into his ear. At the end of the piece the male dancer is placed in the same position and the female dancer again comes along and whispers into his ear. (Burt, 2016) This structure could by symbolising of the Hindu faith of the God Shiva.

There are many figurative motifs throughout the piece that leave the audience able to co-collaborate and from there own ideas of what the piece means. For example, in the slow, central section a duet takes place between Khan and dancer Moya Michael. Khan carefully caresses the palm of his hand across Michaels forehead and down over her eyes. This use of kathak mudras give subtle messages and meaning to the piece but remain undefined. (Burt, 2016)

Khan allows the choreography of 'KAASH' to be multi-layered, combining a hybrid style of aspects and traditions of both Classical Indian and contemporary dance, creating a productive dialogue to from between the two. 

References - 

Burt. R, (2016) Contemporary dance and the performance of multicultural identities, (PDF - Online) Available at:kaash essay (akramkhancompany.net), Accessed - 07/11/21

Akram Khan Company (2015), Kaash - Akram Khan Company (Online - Website) Available at: Kaash - Akram Khan Company, Accessed - 07/11/21

Bibliography -

Burt. R, (2016) Contemporary dance and the performance of multicultural identities, (PDF - Online) Available at:kaash essay (akramkhancompany.net), Accessed - 07/11/21

Akram Khan Company (2015), Kaash - Akram Khan Company (Online - Website) Available at: Kaash - Akram Khan Company, Accessed - 07/11/21

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