Vertical Road

When the Akram Khan Company visits us with Vertical Road we will once again prove that Umeå is the place for massive, international dance experiences.

Akram Khan, mega-star of the dance world from the UK, is a choreographer who time and again takes the world by storm with his astounding performances. His art knows no boundaries between south and north, east and west, then and now. Khan was instructed in the classical Indian dance style Kathak from childhood and Kathak is just as important a formative influence in his artistic expression as the contemporary Western dance he was later schooled in.

In the lead up to Vertical Road, Khan gathered a group of unique dancers from Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Set to music specially composed by Nitin Sawhney, the performance draws inspiration from the Sufic tradition and Persian poet and philosopher Rumi.

"More and more, I am pulled reluctantly towards a strong horizontal current, which is a place where time is moving at such high velocity, that even our breath is forced to accelerate just in order for us humans to survive. And I have always believed that it is in our slow exhalation where the sense of this deep spiritual energy resides. In a world moving so fast, with the growth of technology and information, I am somehow inclined to move against this current, in search of what it might mean to be connected not just spiritually, but also vertically." Akram Khan

"An evening of rare intelligence and artistry" | Financial Times

"A visceral evening of choreography" | The Daily Telegraph

"Vertical Road's physical power is irresistible" | The Sunday Times


Artistic Director/Choreographer: Akram Khan
Composer: Nitin Sawhney
Producer: Farooq Chaudhry
Technical Manager: Fabiana Piccioli
Lighting: Jesper Kongshaug
Costume design: Kimie Nakano
Set design: Akram Khan, Kimie Nakano, Jesper Kongshaug
Dramaturgy: Ruth Little
Research: Jess Gormley
Rehearsal Director: Andrej Petrovic
Performers: Eulalia Ayguade Farro, Konstandina Efthymiadou, Salah El Brogy, Ahmed Khemis, Elias Lazaridis, Yen-Ching Lin, Andrej Petrovic, Sung Hoon Kim

Photographer: Laurent Ziegler

Read more about Akram Khan Company here

Created in residence at Curve, Leicester and DanceEast, Ipswich. Co-production between ADACH (Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage); Sadler's Wells, London; Curve Theatre, Leicester; Theatre de la Ville, Paris; National Arts Centre, Ottawa; and Mercat de les Flors, Barcelona. Supported by Arts Council England.
Sponsored by COLAS.




Vertical Road is presented by NorrlandsOperan in collaboration with Umeå Teaterförening

Stroboscope, smoke and a high soundlevel might appear during the show