Akram Khan
Choreographer
Akram Khan is one of the most celebrated and respected artists working in dance today. At the helm of the Akram Khan Company, which he founded in 1999, he has created a body of imaginative, accessible, and relevant works.
Akram's work is recognized as deeply moving, in which his intelligent storytelling is effortlessly intimate and epic. He is described by the Financial Times as an artist "who talks a lot about extraordinary things".
Over the past 22 years, Akram has created a body of work that has made a significant contribution to the arts in the UK and abroad such as Jungle Book reimagined, Outwitting the Devil, XENOS, Until the Lions, Kaash, iTMOi (in the mind of igor), DESH, Vertical Road, Gnosis, and zero degrees which have earned him a prestigious reputation in the UK and abroad.
Akram Khan’s work is recognised as being profoundly moving, in which his intelligently crafted storytelling is effortlessly intimate and epic. As a choreographer, Khan has developed a close collaboration with English National Ballet and its Artistic Director Tamara Rojo. He created the short piece Dust, as well as his own critically acclaimed version of the iconic romantic ballet Giselle. A highlight of his career was the creation of a section of the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony that was received with unanimous acclaim.
As an instinctive and natural collaborator, his choreography is the embodiment of shared exploration across multiple disciplines and cultures. Previous collaborators include the National Ballet of China, actress Juliette Binoche, ballerina Sylvie Guillem, choreographers/dancers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Israel Galván, singer Kylie Minogue and indie rock band Florence and the Machine, visual artists Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley and Tim Yip, writer Hanif Kureishi and composers Steve Reich, Nitin Sawhney, Jocelyn Pook and Ben Frost.
Akram Khan has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout his career including two Laurence Olivier Awards, the Bessie Award (New York Dance and Performance Award), the prestigious ISPA (International Society for the Performing Arts) Distinguished Artist Award, the Fred and Adele Astaire Award, the Herald Archangel Award at the Edinburgh International Festival, the South Bank Sky Arts Award and nine Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards.
In 2005, he was awarded an MBE for services to dance. In 2022, he was announced as the new Chancellor of De Montfort University. He is also an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells and Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, London, and Curve in Leicester.