Dancer, Akram Khan, showed that a four year absence from UK’s theatre scene, was immaterial, as he took to the Sadler’s Wells stage with seamless and sublime effect. Indeed, the 50 year old Akram Khan whirled and spun as though he was the 15 year old teenager that first took to dancing. GIGENIS is an acronym for The Generation of the Earth and the title is inspired by the Mahabharata story (a battle of two groups of cousins to gain power of the Hastinapura Kingdom). Akram Khan’s philosophy is ‘Fear must not deice for you, you must…’, and as such, the Mahabharata represents how fear is the catalyst for inhumane acts and the destruction that comes with it.
Indeed, GIGENIS, is indicative of how two people from the same upbringing, can take two completely different trajectories in their life. A mother (played by Kapila Venu) has two sons, one of them represents peace and the other appears to enjoy being tangled in turmoil. Throughout the performance, the mother often tells us how she was once a daughter, a wife, a mother, and how her experiences shaped her as she went through each of these phases of life. Akram Khan assembles his dancers and musicians to tell the story with great vigour and movement, through the use of a plethora of the sub-continent’s classical dancing traditions, such as Bharatanatyam and Khatak. Furthermore, storied poets such as Rabindranath Tagore, had their lyrics sounded out and was complemented by Gregorian chants.
The intricate movements of the dancers hands and fingers throughout the performance was perfectly illustrated by the shaping of flower buds to capture the essence of life. Akram Khan ensures that his motto of ‘you must believe it to see it’ with his dramatic contributions and gestures in several of the dance sequences.
