Akram Khan’s Olivier-winning dance show returns to Sadler’s

Akram Khan‘s DESH, the one-man dance show that won an Olivier Award earlier this year, will return to Sadler’s Wells in October.

Khan was forced to postpone the planned run of DESH in February of this year after an injury to his Achilles tendon in January.

The show will come relatively hot on the heels of the appearance of Khan’s dance company in the Danny Boyle-directed Olympic opening ceremony on 27 July to projected audiences in the billions.

DESH, which is the Bangladeshi word for ‘homeland’, is reportedly a deeply personal work, billed as “at once intimate and epic” it explores the relationship between humans and nature.

Also involved in the project are Oscar-winning visual artist Tim Yip, lighting designer Michael Hulls, composer Jocelyn Pook and poets Karthika Nair and PolarBear.

Khan said of the show: “it was heartbreaking to cancel the Sadler’s Wells dates earlier in February this year and I am excited to perform there once again… This duality of self, of origin and of lives lived is explored through DESH, together with the elements of earth and water that are central to Bangladeshi …”

The show opens on 2 October and closes a week later on 9 October.

All photos by Richard Haughton.