Akram Khan dances in freefall, composed and intense, hanging in there for dear life. Where ballet dancers try to escape gravity, he ignores it. Thanks to his training in the Kathak tradition of Indian dance, he can scoot around space like a jump-cut edit. He's moved before you can blink.
Khan has launched his own company (now touring) with a trio, Rush, following his concentrated solo, Fix. The solo is addictive, changing subtly each time he has performed it over the past year. Last week's account was the most ascetic yet, more a Sufi meditation than a journey of discovery.

The Ancient made new
Akram Khan's revitalized kathak is turning heads in the dance world

Khan describes the result as "contemporary kathak" but takes pains to point out that the movement is not a simple pastiche of Western and kathak styles. He speaks in terms of one type of dance being "inspired" by the spirit of the other.

His company's current repertoire consists of two short solos and a larger ensemble work entitled Rush, for three dancers.

<B>The hot new number on a set square</B>
By Sharon Verghis
August 21 2002
Sydney Morning Herald

Akram Khan has an accent that stubbornly defies colonialisation. A born and bred Londoner, he speaks with the soft cadences of Bangladesh, his melodic lilt more reminiscent of Dhaka than Dagenham.

If a voice can symbolise an artistic philosophy, then the 28-year-old dancer's accent is an unwitting but honest measure of his creative career. His footwork has been described as "fiendishly mathematical". His fusion of northern Indian classical forms with contemporary dance has been hailed as hybrid art at its best.

<B>Kaash, Akram Khan</B>
By Shane Carroll
August 22 2002
Sydney Morning Herald

<B>Drama Theatre, Opera House, August 20</B>

Akram Kahn's Kaash is fuelled with an abundantly rich mix. On ignition, this British dance company, only two years in existence, takes possession of the Drama Theatre stage. With the powerful visual effect of Anish Kapoor's set design and a musical/sound score by Nitin Sawhney that engulfs the audience from start to finish, Kahn and his four dancers invade the space with a choreographic meltdown of Western contemporary dance and the classical Indian form kathak.

As the dancers slice, spin and ripple their way through the first lengthy but compelling section, it is clear that this work has been meticulously and mathematically constructed. Complex rhythms and stylised gesture are blended with breadth and momentum to produce choreography that is never idle. It is relentless and almost too much.

Shiva Meets Martha Graham, at a Very High Speed

VALERIE GLADSTONE
NY Times

CAMBRIDGE, England
With rave notices from the likes of William Forsythe, Pina Bausch and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, a string of prestigious awards and an impressive residency in London, Akram Khan is one of the most talked about young dancemakers on the international scene. <a href=http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/10/arts/dance/10GLAD.html target=_blank>more</a>