Akram Khan

Akram Khan is an award-winning dancer and choreographer. Khan was born to Bangladeshi parents in Lambeth, London in 1974. His mother took him to dance classes aged 7, training in Kathak and classical Indian dance.

Aged 13, he performed in Peter Brook’s production of Mahabharata (1987–9). He studied Dance at De Montfort University, graduating in 1998 and appointed Chancellor in 2022, and Northern School of Contemporary Dance. With fellow dancer Farooq Chaudry he founded Akram Khan Company in 2000. He collaborated with Nitin Sawhney and Anish Kapoor on Kaash, which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in 2002.

He was appointed choreographer in residence (2001) and associate artist (2003) at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London, a role he held until 2005. During this time, he collaborated with Hanif Kureishi on A God of Small Tales. In 2008 he collaborated with the actor Juliette Binoche on in-i, a commission for the National Theatre. He has been an associate artist of Sadler’s Wells Theatre since 2011. He performed and choreographed for the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony to Emily Sandé’s rendition of ‘Abide with Me’, a tribute to the victims of the 7 July 2005 terror attacks in London. In 2014, to mark the centenary of the First World War, he choregraphed and performed in the one-act ballet Dust with the ballerina Tamara Rojo, who, as artistic director, commissioned the work for English National Ballet. It premiered at the Barbican Centre, was performed at Glastonbury and, in 2018, to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, was revived at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London.

Khan won the Critics' Circle National Dance Awards for best modern choreography in 2015. Khan continued his association with Rojo and English National Ballet through a co-production with Manchester International Festival for which Khan choregraphed the ballet Giselle.

Through Akram Khan Company he continues to choregraph and perform works. He is the recipient of many awards, including a Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards, a South Bank Show Award and a Laurence Olivier Award.