Choreographer: Akram Khan
Doom and happiness stalk the seven characters in the UK premiere of Akram Khan’s new show GIGENIS: The Generation of the Earth, which combines different forms of classical Indian dance to retell the Mahabharata. An ensemble piece for seven dancers and seven musicians, this 70-minute dance, arriving at Sadler’s Wells for five performances also marks the choreographer’s return to the stage for the first time in four years in this intensive and captivating story of love, war and inheritance.
Khan creates a circularity to his narrative, an eternal cycle that begins with the ending as the mother figure, filled with grief and despair, reflects back on her life, from girlish flirtation to the lightness that marriage brought and eventually to the birth of two beloved sons. But when her husband dies in conflict, history is set to repeat itself as his two very different sons grow to adulthood.
The four female roles in GIGENIS all represent the mother character in different phases of her life, an approach that is enhanced by Peggy Housset’s replica costumes of green saris with gold blouses – mirroring the tunic worn by the three male dancers who play her sons and husband. Performed by Sirikalyani Adkoli, Mythili Prakash, Vijna Vasudevan and Kapila Venu, each is given the opportunity to showcase a different style of classical dance in their solos before this is woven together during the full company segments.
And given its broad reflections on everything from selfishness and jealousy to romance and grief, the changes of tone that Khan introduces through GIGENIS to examine the stages of the woman’s life as well as the darker echoes of pain to come are arresting. There is a rather beautiful romance staged between the young lovers who create butterfly shapes with their hands and syncopated angular forms with arms and legs that resolve into a lightness of being as they move around the stage. The sudden stops that Khan employs introduce danger and foreboding, ending even the gentlest moments as inevitability shapes the future of this story.
And this only adds to the impact of the storytelling, particularly the scenes in which sons – played by Khan and Mavin Khoo – pay tribute to their father (Ranjith Babu) but argue over the right to inherit his place. The characterisation of Khan’s more entitled brother is very well conveyed, appalled that his mother would reject his claim. The choreography has anticipated the ending in the opening scene with the dancers forming a hunting pack, arms and legs elongated to form a bow and arrow shape, or perhaps a long rifle, as war and the allure of fighting haunt the mother from the start.
There is so much exciting content in GIGENIS and Khan’s theatrical vision, which uses 12 distinct music tracks performed live and gives Indian classical dance an all too rare showcase on the Sadler’s Wells stage. That sound is sometimes too overwhelming, almost painfully loud, while the Khoo’s second brother gets lost for most of the story, but powerful and expressive, this is an inspired collaboration and Khan at his best.
Runs until 24 November 2024
