This is how it ends — not with a bang, but a howl. Akram Khan winds up his dance company after 25 impressive years with a ritual built for the Saudi desert. With a resolute all-female cast and a soundtrack shaking with drums and clamour, Thikra creates a myth about memory.
The most celebrated ritual in 20th century dance was Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Countless choreographers — especially a ferocious Pina Bausch — have tramped along its arc of human sacrifice (usually with a female victim). Now Khan and Saudi artist Manal AlDowayan devise a different kind of myth, where women hold the story and drive it forwards.
