A MESSAGE FROM COLAS
ABOUT TORO
As he relentlessly explores all that is universal, Akram Khan digs down to expose the very roots shared by the languages of dance, using choreography to weave a web that links the whole. While Vertical Road tackles the pathway of the spiritual, DESH crisscrosses the traces of individual memory and iTMOi travels the tortuous trails taken by the ritual of artistic creation.
Due to a recent knee injury while performing in Paris, Israel Galván has been advised by his doctor to withdraw his participation from the TOROBAKA tour while he undergoes complete rest and rehabilitation, and therefore is unable to perform with Akram Khan.
Roots are what paves the way, declares the choreographer. Colas has been accompanying Akram Khan’s work since 2008 because it embodies one of the Group’s priorities - innovation. - Hervé Le Bouc, Chairman & CEO COLAS
However, Akram and Israel have committed to going forward and will offer a very special gift to the public. Akram Khan will perform alongside the four remarkable musicians. All together, they will reframe the show in an exclusive evening where you will enjoy the very distinctive language of TOROBAKA, celebrating and transcending traditional kathak and flamenco roots. During this unique performance, which they are calling TORO (the “contest”) will take place between Akram and the musicians, all masters of their own art: David Azura’s fine countertenor, Christine Leboutte’s earthy contralto, Bobote, the accomplished palmero who is equally a wizard at beating flamenco rhythm with his feet, and the multi-talented Indian percussionist B.C. Manjunath unleashing the cadences of his mridanga drum. Together, they will re-imagine a captivating dialogue between Indian and Spanish classical rhythms, taking inspiration from what Akram Khan has always termed a “concert” rather than a “dance performance”. Creating an unstoppable stream of sounds and movements, the charismatic quintet will keep intact the profound dynamics of the original collaboration, exploring even further their taste for improvisation and playfulness.
MARCH 9 -12 , 2016 BLUMA APPEL THEATRE
# C STO RO
PR E S E NTE D BY CANADIAN STAG E
C R E ATE D BY
LI G HTI N G D E S I G N E R
ISRAEL GALVÁN A N D AKRAM KHAN
MICHAEL HULLS
P E R FO R M E D BY
COS T U M E D E S I G N E R
AKRAM KHAN
KIMIE NAKANO
MUSIC ARRANGED A N D P E R FO R M E D BY
DAVID AZURZA B C MANJUNATH BOBOTE CHRISTINE LEBOUTTE
SO U N D
PEDRO LEÓN R E H E A R SA L D I R EC TO R
JOSE AGUDO TEC H N I C A L D I R EC TO R
RICHARD FAGAN TEC H N I C A L M A N AG E R
PABLO PUJOL LI G HTI N G
STÉPHANE DÉJOURS P RO D U C TI O N CO O R D I N ATO R , TO U R M A N AG E R
AMAPOLA LÓPEZ P RO D U C E R S
FAROOQ CHAUDHRY Jean-Louis Fernandez
With TOROBAKA, Akram Khan and Israel Galván leave us to imagine a bridge from which one can contemplate two entirely different landscapes. One dances kathak, the other flamenco. Both are masters of their art. Together, they endeavored to go back in time, to break the bond that sealed them to their pedestals, to work from the very source. Together, they found the pulse and rhythm of their common language: TOROBAKA.
toro
(KHAN CHAUDHRY PRODUCTIONS)
CHEMA BLANCO & CISCO CASADO (A NEGRO PRODUCCIONES)
2LUCK CONCEPTS [PRODUCERS NORTH AMERICA AND EXCLUSIVE REPRESENTATION]
This production runs approximately 60 minutes. There is no intermission
ARTIST UNDERWRITER: SANDRA SIMPSON CANADIAN STAGE DANCE PROGRAMMING SUPPORTER
Co-produced by MC2: Grenoble, Sadler’s Wells London, Mercat de les Flors Barcelona,Théâtre de la Ville Paris, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Festival Montpellier Danse 2015, Onassis Cultural Centre - Athens, Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay Singapore, Prakriti Foundation, Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam/Flamenco Biënnale Nederland, Concertgebouw Brugge, HELLERAU – European Center for the Arts Dresden, Festspielhaus St. Pölten, Romaeuropa Festival Sponsored by COLAS
Supported by Arts Council England
Produced during residency at Mercat de les Flors and MC2: Grenoble
Israel Galván is an Associate Artist of Théâtre de la Ville Paris and Mercat de les Flors Barcelona. Akram Khan is an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells London and Curve, Leicester, and formerly an associate artist of MC2: Grenoble (2011-2014) when TOROBAKA was created. Special thanks to the whole MC2 team, Hervé Le Bouc, Sophie Sadeler, Béatrice Abeille-Robin, Mr. & Mrs. Khan, Yuko Khan, Aditi Mangaldas, Pedro G. Romero, Pandit Lachhu Maharaj, Shlomo and Jacob Galván, Greg Wilkie at Solotech (Toronto). World Premiere: MC2: Grenoble, France, 2 June 2014 Spanish Premiere: XXXI Festival de Otoño a Primavera, Madrid, 27 June 2014 UK Premiere: Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London, 3 November 2014
AKRAM KHAN
ISRAEL GALVÁN
Akram Khan is one of the most celebrated and respected dance artists today. In just over fifteen years he has created a body of work that has contributed significantly to the arts in the UK and abroad. His reputation has been built on the success of imaginative, highly accessible and relevant productions such as DESH, iTMOi, Vertical Road, Gnosis and zero degrees. An instinctive and natural collaborator, Khan has been a magnet to worldclass artists from other cultures and disciplines. His previous collaborators include the National Ballet of China, actress Juliette Binoche, ballerina Sylvie Guillem, choreographer/ dancer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, singer Kylie Minogue, visual artists Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley and Tim Yip, writer Hanif Kureishi and composers Steve Reich, Nitin Sawhney, Jocelyn Pook and Ben Frost. Described by the Financial Times as an artist “who speaks tremendously of tremendous things”, a recent highlight of his career was the creation of a section of the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony that was received with unanimous acclaim. Khan has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout his career including the Laurence Olivier Award, the Bessie Award (New York Dance and Performance Award), the prestigious ISPA (International Society for the Performing Arts), Distinguished Artist Award, and six Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards. He is also an Honorary Graduate of Roehampton and De Montfort Universities, and University of London, as well as Honorary Fellow of Trinity Laban. Khan is an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells, London. akramkhancompany.net
Israel Galván de los Reyes was awarded the National Dance Prize 2005 by the Culture Department of the Spanish Government, for “his capacity to generate a new creation in an art such as flamenco without forgetting the real roots that have sustained it to the present day and that make of it a universal genre”. In 2012 he was honoured with the New York Bessie Performance Award for an Outstanding Production and the Fine Arts Medal awarded by the Council of Ministers of Spanish Government. Son of Sevillian bailaores Jose Galván and Eugenia de Los Reyes, he grew up within the atmosphere of tablaos, fiestas and flamenco dance academies, where he used to accompany his father. In 1994, he joined the Compañía Andaluza de Danza, directed by Mario Maya - the beginning of an unstoppable career that would garner him the most important awards in flamenco (and) dance. In 1998 Israel premiered ¡Mira! /Los Zapatos Rojos, his first creation. Praised by critics as a stroke of genius, it was effectively a revolution in the entire conception of flamenco. Since then he has presented productions such as La Metamorfosis, Galvánicas, Arena, La Edad De Oro, Tábula Rasa, Solo, El Final De Este Estado De Cosas - Redux, Israel vs Los 3000, La Curva and Lo Real/Le Réel/The Real, for which he received three Premios Max de Teatro (awards) in May 2014: Best Dance production, Best Choreography and Best Dancer. He also created La Francesa and Pastora for his sister Pastora Galván, and has collaborated with such renowned artists as Enrique Morente, Manuel Soler, Pat Metheny, Vicente Amigo and Lagartija Nick. Galván is an Associate Artist of Théâtre de la Ville Paris and Mercat de les Flors Barcelona.
Dancing beside Israel is like dancing next to a sublime storyteller of rhythms, not rhythms of the past, but rhythms of the future. I have gained so much insight into flamenco through Israel. He has opened my eyes into how and what is possible with flamenco: how one can deconstruct it, transform it and recreate it, in order to form new stories. After all, stories are what help us make sense of the world. I think the simplest way to describe our process together is to imagine if fragrance was created before the flower that contains it, that’s how our ideas developed on this wonderful journey. At first we created smells, colours, sketches, then together, with the musicians, lighting designer, sound designer, costume designer, rehearsal director and many others, we finally encapsulated it in the body of a theme: TOROBAKA. — Akram Khan
Master, you have shown us unfamiliar images and rhythms, a new world that I now recognise as kathak. There are poisons that heal, and kathak is one of these remedies. I have it nestled within my body. Master, sometimes we must move forward, go faster and then stop suddenly. Gandhi, perhaps, knew that by standing still we more easily see the world than people who are always moving. Master, I came prepared for a cockfight, the snake and the weasel, and we have become monks, two holy men in a secluded monastery of dance. Master, I have found a brother, one and only, unique. Maybe people won’t like our steps, but I have learnt so much. What matters is the process. I hope that each of our thousands of hours of rehearsals, and the work together, can be seen. I hope that all that we put into the show can be seen, and the rest too, all that we have removed. What is and what is not: everything is important. — Israel Galván