Chotto Desh, meaning ‘small homeland’, draws on Khan’s unique quality of cross-cultural storytelling, creating a compelling tale of a boy’s dreams and memories from Britain to Bangladesh that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit in the modern world. Blending Kathak and contemporary dance with an exquisite mix of spoken text, dreamlike animation, visuals and specially composed music, Chotto Desh is an enchanting and poignant dance-theatre experience for children aged 7+ and their families to enjoy together.
DESH Artistic Direction and Original Choreography | Akram Khan
Chotto Desh Direction and Adaptation | Sue Buckmaster (Theatre-Rites)
Music Composition | Jocelyn Pook
Lighting Design | Guy Hoare
Stories imagined by | Karthika Naïr and Akram Khan
The grandmother’s fable in Chotto Desh is taken from the book The Honey Hunter
Written by | Karthika Naïr, Sue Buckmaster and Akram Khan
Assistant Choreographer | Jose Agudo
Rehearsal Directors | Dennis Alamanos, Amy Butler, Nico Monaco
Grandmother’s voice | Leesa Gazi
Jui’s voice | Sreya Andrisha Gazi
Dancers | Jasper Narvaez, Nico Ricchini
Original Visual Design | Tim Yip
Original Visual Animation created by | YeastCulture
Original Costume Supervisor | Kimie Nakano
Music Engineer | Steve Parr
Tour Managers | Mashitah Omar and Svitlana Bil
Painted Head Sequence devised by | Damien Jalet with Akram Khan
‘Bleeding Soles’ lyrics written by | Leesa Gazi
Singers | Melanie Pappenheim, Sohini Alam, Jocelyn Pook (voice/viola/piano), Tanja Tzarovska, Jeremy Schonfield
We gratefully acknowledge the artists who contributed to the original production of DESH by Akram Khan Company.
Coproduced by the MAC, Belfast
Originally co-commissioned by MOKO Dance, Akram Khan Company, Sadler's Wells London, DanceEast, Théâtre de la Ville Paris, Mercat de les Flors Barcelona, Biennale de la danse de Lyon 2016 and Stratford Circus Arts Centre.
Cooperating partner: British Council
The show is in English with Hungarian subtitles.
