Akram Khan: Outwitting the Devil

Fêted British modern dance choreographer Akram Khan has a rep for confronting the human condition in all its horror and beauty. So we’re pretty confident in predicting that his latest production will more than hold its own against the dramatic backdrop of the ancient Herodion arena. 

Khan – via his diverse troupe of six international artists - will wage battle with the devil inside us all in a dance journey inspired by a newly discovered fragment of the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the world’s earliest surviving great works of literature. Awarded the prestigious Olivier gong for his contribution to intercultural dialogue in dance, Khan’s Outwitting the Devil is essentially about ritual and remembering. In a landscape of broken tablets and fallen idols, the six dancers trade their remaining wealth and stories, hoping to make whole the fragments of ancient knowledge that have been lost and forgotten over time – in what many reviewers have interpreted as an urgent call for a collective humanity. Here's a taste of what you can expect: