Until the Lions will return to the venue where it received its world première for six performances from 11 to 17 January 2019, with Khan dancing the role of Bheeshma for the last time.
Created for the 360° setting of London's Roundhouse in January 2016, the piece is inspired by poet Karthika Naïr’s book Until The Lions: Echoes from the Mahabharata, a reworking of the ancient Sanskrit epic.
Tapping into his classical roots, Khan combines the Indian dance form Kathak and contemporary dance to explore themes of gender and time, following one of the unsung heroines of the Mahabharata, Amba, a princess abducted on her wedding day who seeks revenge from the gods.
This piece marks Khan’s return to the Mahabharata, having begun his professional career performing in Peter Brook’s production in 1985. Khan reunites with visual artist Tim Yip, lighting designer Michael Hulls, writer and poet Karthika Naïr and Ruth Little.
Khan will perform alongside Joy Alpuerto Ritter and Ching-Ying Chien who won the 2016 National Dance Award for Outstanding Female Performance (Modern). Accompanying these three performers live will be musicians Sohini Alam, Joseph Ashwin, David Azurza and Yaron Engler.
Khan has collaborated with performers and artists including Juliette Binoche, Sylvie Guillem, Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Nitin Sawhney as well as working for the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony and more recently his final solo show XENOS and his production of Giselle (which is off to the Boshoi next July) for English National Ballet.