ABOUT Akram Kan he is an excellent storyteller. And a linguist, which is also the gift of a storyteller. “”The Jungle Book Reimagined“It’s a cross between a theater and a dance performance,” he explains to me. “But this is not a musical either. It is “dance”.

By the age of 50, this British choreographer – a star of modern dance – allows himself to constantly tell stories: how children grow up in London, how his daughter asked him to play the Mowgli girl, how he himself fell in love with Rudyard Kipling’s performance. The Jungle Book when he was 10 because he acted in a play by Ravi Shankar based on the book.

He has a pleasant bass and a calm and pleasant way of storytelling that will surely lull his children to sleep. After all, he, too, grew up listening to his mother tell traditional Indian tales, which she modified to include women.

“My mother was not exactly what we call a feminist, but she was a woman who helped the needy in society,” he says. Khan, a shy boy whose family originated in Bengal but loved disco himself, grew up in the suburbs of London and, willy-nilly, was trained in the classical Indian dance Kathak. In his youth, he wanted to break ties with tradition. At maturity, after two decades of successful career – as a solo dancer with a hybrid expressive language, but also in international groups – he returns there: to family ties and great myths, reminiscent of the Ramayama or the Mahabharata. He only does it in his own way, although, of course, he allows the influence of Peter Brook, inspired by modern problems, ecology and population movements that change the geography of the planet.

“Children do not want us to laugh at them, because they have to live in a complex world,” says the great British choreographer.

“My children teach me how to live in this world,” he comments during a press conference, explaining his thoughts on the reimagined production of The Jungle Book to be presented at the Athens Concert Hall, a stop on her epic tour. “I want to immerse myself in the myths of today and the childhood stories of tomorrow. That is, I want to find a way to see a familiar, familiar story again through the eyes of the children of today, my own children, our own children, who are storytellers of today and tomorrow,” he says and continues: “I have always liked the story of The Jungle Book, because it taught me three great life lessons that I have always carried with me: that there is something in common between species, that interdependence governs the relationship between people, animals and nature, and how important this concept of family and our need to belong somewhere is.

Finally, on June 14th and 15th we have a great show for the whole family, where speech, movement, new media coexist – impressive lighting design, but also the old way of storytelling through voice-over and animation, but drawn by hand.

Many members

“Have you decided to abandon the harsh dance storytelling?” we ask him, since this particular production involves a large cast: playwright, writer, actors, dancers, specialized technicians and artists. “We have to change if we want to attract a younger audience,” he replies. “But I don’t do Disney. Children don’t want to be laughed at. After all, they have to live in a difficult world. In addition to the light side, there is also a dark side of humanity. The contrast of light and darkness created the world, and art was born in the space between them. In addition, all my work is full of contrasts, and I have to be honest with the children.”

Beginning a new narrative, Akram Khan explains how his daughter demanded that this major production of The Jungle Book be economical, sustainable and respectful of local communities. Thus, during the tour, the dance group includes dancers from every country where it performs. As for Mowgli, this is a little boy who, with a backpack on his back, arrives alone from the sea to a deserted shore.