Akram Khan's 'Xenos' Blends Kathak and War Memory

Akram Khan performed 'Xenos' at the Romaeuropa Festival and Torinodanza, marking his farewell as a solo dancer at age 44. The piece blends Kathak dance with contemporary movement to tell the story of a Sepoy, an Indian soldier who fought in World War I for the British colonies. Khan's magnetic and energetic body becomes a modern Prometheus, symbolizing the fate of all soldiers and the forgotten dead. The performance features a large oblique wall with scattered ropes, a swing, chairs, a table, and a suitcase, objects of a lost peaceful world. Sound design by Vincenzo Lamagna includes live music by five musicians, with echoes, explosions, and a reinterpretation of Mozart's Lacrimosa. Lighting by Michael Hulls uses rusty and livid tones. The show incorporates a gramophone projecting light and a voice asking, 'Whose war, whose fire, whose hand?' from Jordan Tannahill. Khan, born in 1974, announced this as his last solo due to the physical demands.