Dance|Akram Khan’s Jungle Book reimagined is a multi-artistic spectacle.
Jungle Book reimagined in the Erkko hall of Tanssi talo on 22.8. Choreography and direction by Akram Khan, text by Tariq Jordan, dramaturgy by Sharon Clark, music by Jocelyn Pook, lighting design by Michael Hulls, stage design by Miriam Buether, animation by Adam Smith (YeastCulture), dance by Akram Khan Company.
Strikingeducational and current – all of that is part of the program of the Helsinki festival weeks Akram Khan’s work Jungle Book reimagined. As the title of the work already suggests, it is about one of the world’s most beloved adventure books, published in 1894 by Rudyard Kipling The Jungle Book update.
However, the leap in time is not made to our own time, but to the assumed near future, when people are at the mercy of nature in a new way.
In Kipling’s adventure book, the boy Mowgli, forced to be raised by animals in the jungle, ends up back among humans for a while, but then escapes back to the animals.
In Khan’s version, a girl who survived an environmental disaster ends up in a big city abandoned under a flood, which is ruled by various animals. However, the freed test animals capture the girl so that they too can learn the ways of humans. After the hunter penetrates the animal world, the all-consuming greed of humans is revealed.
Of Bangladeshi origin Akram Khan is one of the most interesting choreographers of our time. She initially studied the Indian classical kathak dance under the masters of the field. At the age of ten, his first real role was Mowgli in the Indian dance group The Jungle Book in production.
Soon he was touring the world by Peter Brook in famous The Mahabharata-in the stage adaptation of the epic. After studying contemporary dance, he performed, among other things Anne Teresa Keersmaeker in the group and started making solo works for himself.
In 2001, Khan visited Pyhäjärvi’s Full Moon dances with his Kathak-inspired solo. In an interview, he said: “My tradition taught me that energy originates from the center of the body. From there it progresses to the chest and shoulders, and through the middle finger it can be thrown across the stage.”
In his own style, he created impressive works, such as the stirring anti-war group work seen at the National Opera two years ago Dust. He has also made an attention-grabbing modernization of the ballet classic Giselle. Khan and his group reached their largest audience at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics.
Now to see Jungle Book is, however, primarily a theatrical piece where the text plays a key role. The ten dancers of Khan’s dance troupe are characterized by movement, the lines heard on the audio tape, sometimes reaching powerful collective group scenes.
What was problematic, at least for me, was that even though I had just recently read it The Jungle Book again, the names of the various characters were not always revealed, nor what species of animal each represented. In England and its old colony India, the situation may be different. There, Kipling is almost in the position of a national writer.
The charm of the stage performance lies largely in its impressive visualization, where animations play a key role. They are projected behind the stage and onto the screen in front of it. They magically conjure up a decaying city and many animal figures, from majestic elephants to pesky mice. Combining animation and dance theater works great.
Jungle Book reimagined is, of course, frighteningly day-burning. It’s also unashamedly sentimental and educational – and that’s okay, the original text is from the Victorian era, and when programmed like this, it still speaks to us today.
Jungle Book reimagined performances at Musiikkitalo 23.–24.8.
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