AS THE Festival Hall’s associate artist, the British choreographer Akram Khan can avail himself of the support of a high-profile cultural institution. He is therefore practically duty-bound to accept a creative challenge from his host. In a bid to melt the divide between community work and artistic practice, the hall’s education department commissioned Khan to conduct a residency with a small group of mature women. He, in turn, has cannily used this short but intensive project to inform and influence his next full-scale touring work, Ma (Hindi for both “mother” and “earth”).