Akram khan dances

From southwest London, as it happens. Both his parents had arrived there in the early 1970s from Bangladesh, a nation that had just been established, after a bloody and brutal war of independence.

In London, Khan’s father set up an Indian restaurant. His mother became a schoolteacher, and had high cultural aspirations for her son, teaching him Bengali folk dances from the age of three and sending him to kathak classes from the age of seven.

Akram khan desh

Khan, like so many dancers of a certain generation, was also hugely inspired by Michael Jackson, and won dancing competitions at school with his tribute acts. By 10, he was already performing in public in The Adventures of Mowgli produced by London’s Academy of Indian Dance (now simply Akademi).

Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar was present during the production and strongly encouraged the boy to keep performing. It was here too that Khan was spot