Buddhist monks take a leap of faith in Sutra, as the first true collaboration between Western artists and the 1,500-year-old Shaolin Temple comes to Salford’s Lowry arts centre on May 14-15.
It sees the award-winning choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui unite with Turner Prize-winner Antony Gormley.
Gormley creates a striking design of 21 wooden boxes which shift and evolve into an ever-changing environment for the performers—17 monks from the original Shaolin Temple, alongside Sutra’s assistant choreographer and performer Ali Thabet.
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui has made more than 20 choreographic pieces, including zero degrees (2005) with Akram Khan, Antony Gormley and Nitin Sawhney and Olivier Award-winning Babel (2010). He was also choreographer on Joe Wright’s recent film Anna Karenina (2012).