DANCE YOUNG AUDIENCES
DESH was an instant success with audiences and critics when it premiered in 2011. Akram Khan Company and Theatre-Rites director Sue Buckmaster subsequently adapted the production for children aged 7+ and their families. Chotto Desh, meaning “small homeland”, draws on Akram Khan’s distinctive cross-cultural storytelling to tell a young man’s journey through dreams and memories, travelling between Britain and Bangladesh.
Combining dance, text, visuals and sound, Chotto Desh celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and offers a magical, thrilling and poignant dance theatre experience for audiences of all ages.
Running time: 50 minutes.
CREDITS
Artistic Team & Credits
DESH Artistic Direction and Original Choreography Akram Khan
Chotto Desh Direction and Adaptation Sue Buckmaster (Theatre-Rites)
Music Composition Jocelyn Pook
Lighting Design Guy Hoare
Stories imagined by Karthika Naïr and Akram Khan
The grandmother’s fable in Chotto Desh is taken from the book The Honey Hunter
Written by Karthika Naïr, Sue Buckmaster and Akram Khan
Assistant Choreographer Jose Agudo
Rehearsal Directors Dennis Alamanos, Amy Butler, Nico Monaco
Grandmother’s voice Leesa Gazi
Jui’s voice Sreya Andrisha Gazi
Dancers Jasper Narvaez, Nico Ricchini
Tour Manager Mashitah Omar, Svitlana Bil
Original Visual Design Tim Yip
Original Visual Animation created by YeastCulture
Original Costume Supervisor Kimie Nakano
Original Producer Claire Cunningham
Music Engineer Steve Parr
Painted Head Sequence devised by Damien Jalet with Akram Khan
‘Bleeding Soles’ lyrics written by Leesa Gazi
Singers Melanie Pappenheim, Sohini Alam, Jocelyn Pook (voice/viola/piano), Tanja Tzarovska, Jeremy Schonfield
We gratefully acknowledge the artists who contributed to the original production of DESH by Akram Khan Company.
photos ©Camilla Greenwell
Coproduced by the MAC, Belfast
Originally co-commissioned by MOKO Dance, Akram Khan Company, Sadler’s Wells London, DanceEast, Théâtre de la Ville Paris, Mercat de les Flors Barcelona, Biennale de la danse de Lyon 2016 and Stratford Circus Arts Centre.