Epic Journey

That perhaps explains his varied list of collaborators over the years — from theatre and film director Peter Brook (he was part of both the stage production and television series of Brook’s epic The Mahabharata) to pop star Kylie Minogue,sculptor Anish Kapoor to actor Juliette Binoche and recently,Danny Boyle,for the London Olympics.

“The best way of collaborating is with people who do not do what you do,and that takes both the parties to a place they have never been before,” says Khan,who performed in Mumbai on Tuesday as part of the opening act of British Council’s Impulse — a season of UK contemporary dance. Other cities that are part of his tour include Chennai,Bengaluru,Hyderabad,Delhi and Kolkata.

Khan is touring India to present his production Gnosis,a dance-theatre performance that draws from the Gandhari-Duryodhana relationship from the Mahabharata. “In Mahabharata,it’s mostly the male characters who are celebrated; I found the female characters can be celebrated much more and I decided to focus on them,” says the performer,who in his latest piece,Desh,revisits his Bangladeshi roots.

To Khan,as the world becomes more complex,human emotions need a constantly evolving language to express. And his body movements allow him to say what words fail to. “There are layers and complexities which spoken words can’t contain. Human body movements are much more visceral and a direct communication to audiences’ senses,” he explains. Khan will next choreograph Freida Pinto in Desert Dancer,a film by British director Richard Raymond.

Akram Khan will perform at Kamani Auditorium on September 17,7 pm