An in depth look into Akram Khan's work. Applying Janet Adshead’s Model of Description and Pauli

To explain a dance Janet Adshead stresses the importance that there ‘can be no consensus of interpretation (Midgelow, Vida, L: 2007: 28) but by writing a review we are putting across an opinion, no matter how small. Many articles have been written all forming a unique interpretation on his 2010 work Gnosis. If one aims to analyse the movement quality and components of the dance, then it also needs to express clearly the personal interpretation given by that essay.

In order to achieve this, the author will follow Hodgens model of analysis to understand possible interpretations given to the reader.

This essay shall highlight the importance of the 'dancers' in both interpretations, being present in both analysis models and being stated as ‘an essence of dance analysis’ by Jackson. Jackson stated that "in dance analysis there is an emphasis on the character of the text of the dance" (Adshead.1994: 2) so this essay will form an opinion on its relevance to meaning in Gnosis.

Janet Adshead's model splits description into four key elements (movement, dancers, visual setting and aural setting) which is vital information to give to the reader. By following this structure, we are looking to relieve ourselves of as little interpretation to be factual to a potential audience. This essay will begin with this model before turning to Hodgens method of analysis.

Gnosis is a dance work with two dancers, Akram Khan who was joined on stage with Fang-Yi Sheu. Akram Khan has performed in his own piece, being a short but muscular built male with Sheu just a little smaller than Khan, both in height and build. Both dancers are of Asian Heritage with Sheu more oriental Asian.

Gnosis’ movement content is of Akram Khan's personal blend of Contemporary and Kathak dance. The movement can be split into two parts, with the first half of the piece in a Kathak influenced style which then moves into the second that stems from his younger years with a love of 'Michael Jackson and hip hop' (Patterson. 2009). The second half starts at around 12:30 and has more of a contemporary movement feel. His hip hop influence Khan himself said came from the music, but for the sake of the word constraint of this essay, it will focus on the Kathak movement quality.

Kathak as a dance form derived from religious temple dance often representing Hindu stories of Gods and Goddesses, though it is a blend of Northern Indian and Islamic routes. The form's basis is of complex layered rhythmic footwork 'spins, fluid arm and hand gestures, as well as dynamic contrasts between speed and stillness.' As described by Roy Sanjoy (Sanjoy, 2009). Khan has been analysed in the other newspapers as ' a man obsessed with the idea of stillness' (Patterson. 2009) which not only is a style of him, but proof he is tied with his Kathak teachings.

At 1:06 this exploration of dynamics is already apparent when Khan joins Sheu on stage. She is performing intricate and fast hand and arm movements slicing across her body and then chopping towards the audience with a calm aura around her. When Khan contrasts her movement with a slow and sustained quality. The duet continues in unison of Sheu's previous solo with moments of this sustained quality returning with short unison and solo aspects of 4 pulses to the beat. These pulses are juxtaposed to the sweeping dynamic movement, creating a close sense to stillness with its closed off internal quality against the bold outward use of space. At 1:06 we see two key aspects of Kathak layered on top of one another, these being the "fluid arm and hand gestures" which were adapted with changes in dynamic speed throughout the solo and "contrast between speed and stillness" (Sanjoy, 2009).

At 2:20, we can see the contrast in the pulsing motif now being joined to a more exaggerated bounce in unison with their bodies moving together. Once again, this movement choice is partnered with a moment of stillness after, now in the form of a lift. Khan takes Sheu face up lying on his shoulders. The development of this sequence from 1:06 to now is also adding a third layer to the Kathak influence- asymmetry. Dr. Jukka O. Miettinen wrote that "The basic standing position of a Kathak dancer is asymmetric and linear" (Hays. 2008). The pulsing together is now of Khan over Sheu with Sheu lifting her left arm higher punching down towards the ground and Khan changing between moving his head in the direction of Sheu's throw or against.

In response to Jeffery Hays who in 2008 categories Kathak as being either 'nritya ... [or] Abhinaya ' (Hays. 2008) meaning ‘pure or expressionistic’ this essay would argue that Khan is Abhinaya (expressionistic) due to the creativity to push the rhythmic timing, stillness and arm movement influenced from Kathak but still create a piece with a contemporary hybrid blend.

From the analysed performance in this essay, the performance space is a bare stage with a light blue flood light illuminating the entire floor space, with all walls pitch black giving no other idea of size than what is lit. The only addition, other than the dancers, is a man sized wooden stick. This prop is at first forever in the hands of Sheu, being used as both as a 'blind stick' (following the story of Mahabrata in Gnosis). When in the hands of Khan at 12:55 the lighting changes to a deep red at the moment of Khan picking up stick. This moment brings two drastic changes; one of the red flood light appearing with a black separation running down the middle, and the other of the relationship to the prop. The lighting mirrors the piece going back into a solo for Khan, showing the unity of all elements of performance in this work.

Khan's costume for Gnosis is in all black, with both long sleeved top and bottoms. He is bare-foot throughout the performance, bringing in the contemporary aesthetic layered with the loose-fitting bottoms of Kathak. Sheu accompanies Khan on stage bare-foot, with the same trousers but with a light beige shirt with cropped off sleeves. Most painted work of the Mahabrata shows royal colours of gold, red and blue, (fg. 1) but Khan here chose to go against the Hindu representation and went with neutral costuming.

The piece, by this analysed video, begins with the music and movement syncopated. A recorded drum sound begins to play, and by the tone of the instrument we can tell it is hand-beaten, leading us to a traditional instrument of Bangladesh (Dhak, which is often played at speed). In the opening of Akram Khan’s Gnosis, the drum beat is far slower with it at a 1/8-time signature. The movement grasps the fast pace patterns normally left to the traditional drum, whilst the instrument is slower than would be expected. Khan, therefore, embodied the dynamics into movement and began shifting through musical genres. At 0:27, a secondary

instrument begins to creep in from the strings group of instruments giving an underlying sinister tone playing only minor chords.

1:55 introduces the first vocal work carried in the performance, though short, of a man singing in a native language. Based on the context, it is safe to say it is of the Indian language, introducing themes within the story of the Mahabharata.

Later in the performance, many additional instruments are layered on top feedings into the “Indian/Bangladeshi identity” with native guitars and more religious-like songs. Despite the use of a stick as a prop, the music drowns out any potential found sound for the audience. This makes the point that Khan saw the music as essential in delivering a message, that silence of quiet was not utilised.

In the Adshead part of the essay, the significance of the dancers shows that Khan has not limited himself to one genre (Kathak) and has stretched his exploration of other styles with another raced-Asian ethnicity dancing on stage with him. We see how his style and upbringing remains personal to him but to the reader as well, by utilising as many global traits as possible, gender, race and style blends. Khan chose costume going against what was expected and associated with the story, and chose to show himself and Sheu as united with similar costuming and relationship with the prop.

To analyse how Khan showed and expressed meaning in Gnosis this essay will primarily focus on its interpretation. The second half of this essay will follow Hodgens model of; sociocultural background, genre and style, context, subject matter, qualities, and meaning.

Akram Khan is of British nationality, and calls himself of ‘Bangladeshi roots' (Khan, 2015). Born in London, he has worked many jobs to get him through 4 universities studying and as a result has been as involved in his British culture as he has in the dance industry. These life skills have allowed him to push and form his identity and be exposed to issues happening in London to look at in his pieces. Within his teens, he formed his own hybrid form by taking the two styles he had trained in (Kathak and Contemporary), creating a conversation between India and UK starting in British soil. After 17 years of building a company, he now showcases work globally and to varying cultures but still keeps his identity through his choice of dance genre.

He has admitted he was more trained in drama than dance, and when on tour for his first ‘professional job' (which this essay will later revisit) he was accompanied by many actors with whom he enjoyed watching, including the famous Peter Brook (Weibye, 2014).

This essays believes Khans background influenced both content and movement after he was 'trying to explain to her about Gandhari, the blind queen in the Mahabharata' which he said was 'he beginning of Gnosis' (Patterson. 2009). He has taken his London upbringing and love of drama to recreate the tale in a modernist episodic way.

Kathak as a classical Indian form of dance can be translated to mean storytelling. Each mudra (hand gesture) and placement of the eyes communicates a thought to the audience (Jaggi, 2010). 07:55, shows strong resemblance to Khan's training with the fast turns and arms wrapping around the body and around his head, of the Kathak style, and the use of moving

within the bounds of the stick from his contemporary past. The freedom see in contemporary movement only adds to the characteristics of Kathak’s turns and speed. Khan has, therefore, created his own genre with a merge of two styles and their intention.

Khan’s style is always described as his two training in dance, Kathak and contemporary. However, outside of movement quality his style can be placed in all of his works with the shared ideologies. Gnosis used two previous solo motifs from ‘polaroid feet’ and ‘Tarana’ (Khan. 2015). His re-use of solos performed by him is a perfect example of how his style makes this feasible. By having his dance style consistent he is able to take works with other meaning and apply the phrases to newer work. His messages of performance train, but the structure, influences and quality remain intact.

Gnosis is also following a modernist pattern by going against a narrative structure. Though the story follows that of the Mahabharata of battles and heritability, Kahn’s Gnosis takes themes and ideas to create the scenes of his performance.

In his 2009\2010 piece ‘Gnosis', he set out to explore an almost forgotten story of Mahabharata. He premiered it in London 2010 a year after its original plan. The performance opened the Indian festival at Sadler wells, which was relevant to do it with a traditional fable (2010).

At the mere age of 14, Khan's first professional break was touring the story of Mahabharata and as a result shows the beginning of the journey to the man we know today (Jaggi, 2010). He has collaborated this performance with his first Kathak teacher, Pratap Prawa (2010).

Whilst performing the piece with Fang-Yi Sheu, he stated in an interview with Sheu his love for Japanese culture especially the moments of stillness. In this collaboration, he worked towards slowing down as a way to let others in and new ideas flourish. Even with his ‘identity' as a British-Asian Khan is not afraid to try and learn from other cultures (Royono. 2010).

The title alone emphasises the seeking for knowledge through the experience and not merely an idea. The definition as a title, pushes towards the idea of Khan looking into the relationship of him and his mother, just as the tale is based on, to get a real life experience and not just a thought. This theory is backed up by the use of his personal hybrid style, daring to broadcast his multiculturalism into global viewers.

To use Laban Movement Analysis terminology as a base to describe movement, this essay will look at the “qualities” aspect of Hodgens model, within the first 1:30 of the piece. Slashing arm movement is used by Sheu who maintains a solid lunge position shifting weight as the arms dart across her body with a direct yet fluid motion, at the opening of the phrase. This motif phrase is repeated, and slightly adapted each of the three cycles before 0:50 brings in more asymmetric choices of the upperbody with the same direct slashing motion.

Once Khan enters at 1:07, Sheu continues with her dynamics, whilst Kahn juxtaposes with a floating quality, being fluid and light yet being direct before mimicking the solo to become a duet of the same strong dynamic. The movement is strong and direct, moving from upper-back-left corners of their kinesphere to down-front-right in an instant.

1:28 brings about a dynamic shift, where the previous unison to mirroring movement sequences, come together in 4 pulses together. Sheu leads these pulses with her feet bouncing to the rhythm whilst maintaining an upright solid torso. Khan on the other hand, initiates movement from his shoulders and upper-arms holding tension and a bound flow to this movement choice, though both hold the foot-pulsing motion.

This essay sees the piece to mean no more than him expressing himself and his culture through the confines of a story due to its creation as an explanation of a story to his wife, using parts of his previous work to showcase himself as a choreographer and continuing his dance vocabulary of hybrid forms. He hasn’t taken and made Mahabharata unfold one event before the other, but taken themes and ideas that could parallel to his views on his life or culture(s) to express them. He allowed Kathak's literal translation of ‘storytelling' to feed into his expressions and exploration. By combining Japanese culture with those of his own, and working with a ‘blind’ women who cannot see on the performance he has stepped into the creative world in the way his naturalistic drama idols would have.

Hodgen’s application shows how a reader who has knowledge of Khan may use and apply moments of his life to add given meaning to Gnosis. On top of being a representation of a famous story, a reader may add their own layers guessing what Khan is saying and viewing the story through his eyes. Of course, this will create a three-way representation as the reader is not Khan and does not know everything he has experienced or reasons for putting an aspect in a performance. This will create subtle differences in every interpretation, based on the knowledge of Khan put forward.

Both models used for explaining and understanding extract differences of description and interpretation, but both show the need for some of the same features. They look at needing to know the movement quality, style and to an extent the visual setting being the dancers and space.

This essay has outlined the deliberate choices Khan made in picking traditional or hybrid forms of his Kathak training, and utilised his other drama skills to portray a famous story in a new context. Both models followed give a different view to the reader, yet have a need to include vital information on visuals and background with one holding back on author-led interpretation. With both interpretations, thus essay will argue that too much information may be given and thus ruin a performance. The essay has shown the importance of style and background to Khan (from Hodgens model) and with this and his expected movement, the author believes this paired with the aural and visual setting of Adsheads model would be sufficient for a dance review with more to the reader imagination.

List of Figures:

Fg. 1.

Last accessed 26/12/2017 <https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Mahabharata&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwji0vT1xqfYAhVsC8AKHYMFBH0Q_AUICygC&biw=1440&bih=786#imgrc=_Hr-GPLJiLh5EM>

Bibliography:

· Adshead, Janet. 1988. ‘Describing the Components of the Dance’ in Dance Analysis: Theory and Practice by Janet Adshead (ed.) (London: Dance Books) 21-40

· Adshead-Lansdale, Janet. 1994. 'dance analysis in performance' Dance research: the journal of the society for dance research, vol. 12, No. 2. Edinburgh University Press. 15-20 Last accessed: 22/12/2017

· Hays, Jeffery. 2008. Kathak dance. Last accessed 22/12/2017 >http://factsanddetails.com/india/Arts_Culture_Media_Sports/sub7_5e/entry-4256.html<

· Hodgens, Pauline. 1988. ‘Interpreting the Dance’ in Dance Analysis: Theory and Practice by Janet Ashead (ed.) (London: Dance Books). 60-89

· Jaggi, Maya. 2010, A life in dance: Akram Khan, last accessed 03\12\2017 <https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2010/sep/27/akram-khan-dance-life >

· Khan, Akram. 2015, Gnosis, last accessed on 04\12\2017: Http://www.akramkhancompany.net/about-us/

· Midgelow, Vida, L. 2007. Reworking the ballet. Counter narratives and alternative bodies. Routledge. London. 20-30

· Patterson, Christina. 2009. Akram Khan: 'You have to become a warrior'. Last accessed 22/12/2017 >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/interviews/akram-khan-you-have-to-become-a-warrior-1815314.html<

· Royona, Mitra. 2010. Corporeal gestures in gnosis (2010). Brunel University. London: 52-70 last accessed on 02\12\2017 https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137393661_3

· Vlassis, Adonis (2013). Akram Khan- Gnosis. Last Accessed: 15/01.2018 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-Gl3rVm7SQ>

· Weibye, Hanna. 2014, the arts desk Q&A- choreographer Akram Khan, last accessed on 04\12\2017 Www.theartsdesk.com/dance/theartsdesk-qa-choreographer-akram-kham

· 2010. Gnosis by Akram Khan, last accessed on 03\12\2017 http://dancemagazine.com.au/2010/04/gnosis-by-akram-khan