Nōs

Luail presents Nōs, a landmark triple bill of internationally acclaimed and defining contemporary dance works by choreographers Akram Khan, Oona Doherty and Liz Roche.

Moving from mythic worlds to raw human experience, the works explore transformation, transcendence and togetherness, revealing dance as a shared act of searching and connection.

Kaash by Akram Khan, first performed in 2002, is an internationally acclaimed work rooted in the rhythmic complexity of Khan’s classical background. Exploring cycles of creation and destruction, black holes and mythological gods, the piece moves between the earthly and the transcendent.

Meaning “if only” in Hindi, Kaash unfolds within a poetic set design by Anish Kapoor, while a powerful score by Nitin Sawhney responds to the intensity of Khan’s dynamic and highly physical early movement language.

Oona Doherty’s Lazarus (2016) is a bold and deeply affecting work from one of the most vital voices in contemporary dance today. Raw, confrontational, and emotionally charged, it explores masculinity, socio-economic stereotypes, and rebirth with unflinching physicality and humanity. Reimagined for the Luail ensemble, the work magnifies Doherty’s urgent search for hope and connection beneath the masks society asks us to wear.

Completing Nōs are two works from Liz Roche’s 12 Minute Dances (2009): vivid studies in colour, rhythm and emotion, where human embodiment becomes a dynamic, living event. Set to music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe and Ed Rosenberg III, the works are inspired by painter Mark Rothko’s belief that art “lives by companionship”, inviting the audience to complete the picture.

Set designer Alyson Cummins, lighting designer Sinead Wallace, and costume designer Catherine Fay shape this reimagining of 12 Minute Dances and, across the wider production, bringing its three works together as Nōs.

CREDITS

• Cast: Robyn Byrne, Jou-Hsin Chu, Clara Kerr, Sean Lammer, Tom O’Gorman, Hamza Pirimo, Rosie Stebbing, Meghan Stevens.
• Choreography: Akran Khan, Oona Doherty, Liz Roche
• Set Design: Alyson Cummins
• Lighting Design: Sinead Wallace
• Costume Design:Catherine Fay