Thikra : A Night of Remembering

with Akram Khan Company, 2025
  • Site-Specific Performance Piece Created By Akram Khan And Manal Aldowayan Commissioned By Wadi Alfannn
    Thikra, meaning ‘memory’ or ‘recollection’ in Arabic, is a site-specific performance piece created by internationally acclaimed, multi-award-winning choreographer Akram Khan...

    Thikra, meaning ‘memory’ or ‘recollection’ in Arabic, is a site-specific performance piece created by internationally acclaimed, multi-award-winning choreographer Akram Khan and Wadi AlFann artist Manal AlDowayan, who represented Saudi Arabia at the 60th International Venice Biennale.

  • Khan joins forces with AlDowayan to create a cross-cultural performance piece. Fourteen dancers combine the traditional Indian classical dance underpinning...

    Khan joins forces with AlDowayan to create a cross-cultural performance piece. Fourteen dancers combine the traditional Indian classical dance underpinning Khan’s choreography with contemporary rhythms and gestures inspired by the desert landscapes and ancient myths of AlUla. Thikra features an original music score by celebrated composer Aditya Prakash, with contributions from pioneering musician Loulwa Al Sharif and local musicians from AlUla Music Hub.

  • As the visual director, AlDowayan collaborated with artisans from across AlUla to create costumes and banners. Weaving traditional craft techniques with contemporary aesthetics, AlDowayan used natural dyes and pigments to reflect the tonalities of the region’s landscape.

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  • Visual aesthetics include costume design, banners, make-up and jewellery which take inspiration from the Nabateans and traditional geometric motifs to...

    Visual aesthetics include costume design, banners, make-up and jewellery which take inspiration from the Nabateans and traditional geometric motifs to signify the role and symbolism of each protagonist.

     

    The performance conjures a tribal gathering performed to connect with ancestral knowledge and expresses the retrieval of a lost past to find healing and transcendence. For one night, the present and past unite and embrace.

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  • CAST

     

    MOTHER

    Azusa Seyama Prioville

    ANCESTOR

    Ching-Ying Chien

    TWIN DAUGHTER

    Nikita Goile

    TWIN DAUGHTER

    Samantha Hines

    TRIBE MEMBERS

    Pallavi Anand, Kavya Ganesh, Jyotsna Jagannathan, Mythili Prakash, Divya Ravi, Mei Fei Soo, Harshini Sukumaran, Shreema Upadhyaya, Kimberly Yap, Hsin-Hsuan Yu

    CHOREOGRAPHY

    Akram Khan

    DRAMATIC NARRATIVE

    Manal AlDowayan & Akram Khan

    COSTUME AND SET DESIGN

    Manal AlDowayan

    MUSIC COMPOSITION

    Aditya Prakash

    MUSIC CONTRIBUTIONS

    Over 35 international musicians including those from the AlUla Music Hub, full names detailed in the following pages.

    RABAB PLAYER

    Ayesh Hodayban Alkhamaaly AlEnezi

    VOCAL/PERCUSSION BAND

    Sultan Gaber ElAlawi, Maged Ahmed ElAtiek, Tarek Saleh ElAtiek, Haitham Ahmed Mohamed

    DESERT SOUNDS & MUSIC DESIGN

    Gareth Fry

    LIGHTING DESIGN

    Zeynep Kepekli

    DRAMATURGY

    Manal AlDowayan & Blue Pieta

    COMMUNITY MOVEMENT DIRECTION

    Bilal Allaf & Jumana Al Refai

    CREATIVE ASSOCIATE

    Mavin Khoo

    REHEARSAL DIRECTOR

    Angela Towler

    PRODUCTION VISUAL DIRECTION

    Carla Giachello
  • This performance had its world premiere in AlUla in January 2025 and is expected to tour globally with AKC Company over the next two years
     
    Commissioned by Wadi AlFann, Valley of the Arts, AlUla as part of the AlUla Arts Festival 2025

     

    Photos courtesy of the Royal Commission for AlUla