Los bailarines Sylvie Guillem y Akram Khan inaugurarán el próximo 26 de junio el Festival de Verano de Barcelona Grec 2007 con el espectáculo de danza "Sacred Monsters".

El espectáculo se podrá ver en el escenario del Teatro Grec de Montjuïc días 26 y 27 de junio y representa el retorno de la danza a los espectáculos de inauguración del Grec.

Estrenado en Londres en octubre pasado, "Sacred Monsters" se presentará por primera vez en España.

Incluye un solo de Sylvie Guillem, coreografiado por Lin Hwai-min, director artístico del Cloud Gate Dance Theatre de Taiwán, y un solo de Akram Khan, de la coreógrafa y "gurú" de la danza "kathak" Gauri Sharma Tripathi, con música creada por el compositor y violoncelista Philip Sheppard.

Akram Khan (Londres, 1974) participó a los catorce años en el legendario Mahabharata de Peter Brook y el año 2000 creó en Londres su propia compañía.

Sylvie Guillem (París, 1965) empezó su carrera en el París Opera Ballet de Rudolf Nureyev y en 1990 ingresó en el Royal Ballet de Londres.

Internationally acclaimed ballerina, Sylvie Guillem will star in the world premiere of Akram Khan’s SACRED MONSTERS, co-produced by Sadler’s Wells, Les Nuits de Fourviere (Lyon), Grand Theatre de Luxembourg and Missno Limited, running from Tuesday 19 – Saturday 23 September 2006 at Sadler’s Wells.  This production is also supported by Arts Council England, the Quercus Trust and the Bell Cohen Charitable Trust.

SACRED MONSTERS will bring together Sylvie Guillem and Akram Khan in an exciting exploration of the boundaries between two great classical dance forms, kathak and ballet, with additional choreography by Lin Hwai-min, Artistic Director of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, Taiwan and kathak guru, Gauri Sharma Tripathi, as well as live music specially created for them by Philip Sheppard.

Akram Khan is one of the most gifted choreographers and dancers of his generation. He began dancing at the age of seven, studying under the great Kathak performer Sri Pratap Pawar. He presented solo performances in the 1990s, gradually developing larger scale works, drawing on his experience and training as a kathak dancer and breaking new ground in his collaborations with other artists – first seen in his first full-length work Kaash, a collaboration with Anish Kapoor and Nitin Sawhney. His production Ma was presented at the Edinburgh Festival in 2004.  In 2005 he was made an associate artist of Sadler’s Wells and zero degrees, a collaboration with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Antony Gormley and Nitin Sawhney was premiered at Sadler’s Wells in the same year. In 2005 he received an MBE for his services to Dance.

Sylvie Guillem is perhaps the world’s most celebrated ballerina. She has worked with many of the great choreographers including Maurice Béjart, William Forsythe, and Mats Ek, as well as being acclaimed for her performances of the major classic works of the ballet repertoire. She was Etoile at the Paris Opera Ballet under the direction of Rudolf Nureyev before joining the Royal Ballet in 1990, where she is now Principal Guest Artist. Throughout her extensive career she has received many awards, including the Nijinsky Prize (2000), the Chevalier de Legion d’Honneur (1994), and an honorary CBE (2003).

Philip Sheppard is a virtuoso cellist and a pioneer of the electric cello. He is a professor at The Royal Academy of Music and has composed extensively for film, television and theatre and is a prolific recording artist. Philip has recently composed BBC Television's Easter production The Manchester Passion as well as compositions for Horizon, Simon Schama's History of Britain and Theatre de Complicite's The Elephant Vanishes. He has recently written and recorded with Scott Walker, David Bowie, Damien Hirst, Oasis and Unkle, and appears as improvising soloist on the soundtracks of The Business, The Virgin Queen, Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire and Hotel Rwanda.

Akram Khan, speaking about this new project, said: “I have spent my life studying and performing kathak. It is the source of my creative process.  Working with Sylvie Guillem is an exciting new challenge, giving me the opportunity to explore another classical dance language with one of its greatest exponents, and as a result, creating a situation that will unearth the things that are most often lost between the classical and modern world.” 23 March 2006

office@akramkhancompany.net

Agradecemos especialmente a Charlene Lim  -oficina de prensa de Akram Khan’s - por el envio de la información para Danza Ballet.