“Dancing still remains the most significant reasons why I still want to connect with the Other, why I want to listen to the Other, why I want to learn from the Other. And the ‘Other’ represents many things to many people – the spiritual, the earth, the other human beings that share this planet with us.”

Curated by Akram Khan and Company producer Farooq Chaudhry, Portraits in Otherness initiated a new chapter in Akram Khan Company’s history as it transferred the intangible value of its legacy to a new generation of dance artists.

This innovative platform consists of a series of solo works created by four highly charismatic and distinctive early-career artists: Dickson Mbi, Maya Jilan Dong, Joy Alpuerto Ritter and Ching-Ying Chien.

None of them can be identified by any particular genre or form. They carry echoes and primal beauty of many dance languages both learned and inherited. They breathe new life into the spaces that have kept these expressions apart and expand into the boundaries beyond them. They create their own relevance by inhabiting and haunting these in-between territories.

This project also marks the first international collaboration between Akram Khan Company and Peacock Contemporary Dance Company in China. As they share similar aspirations and ambitions within the international dance community, both companies join forced to nurture talents from their respective geographies, and reflect the prism of otherness.

Portraits in Otherness premiered at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London from 5-8 June 2018.