Move to Live with Akram Khan

As a taster for his new podcast series, choreographer and dancer Akram Khan introduces us to his passion for movement and the way it affects everything he does in life. In conversation with Marquee TV’s Director of Content, Susannah Simons. Akram’s groundbreaking and innovative work includes projects ranging from ''Jungle Book Reimagined'' to the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony, while his many collaborators include Anish Kapoor, the National Ballet of China, and Kylie Minogue. He believes our 21st-century lives are becoming more and more static and that moving our bodies can often alleviate both physical and psychological problems and open up a new perspective on life. Find out what makes Akram tick in the lead-up to his exciting new series of conversations with celebrated artists, actors, and musicians including stage designer Es Devlin, actor Andy Serkis, violinist Izzy Judd, actor Khalid Abdalla, Royal Ballet Star Francesca Hayward, actor Kathryn Hunter, and more.

Akram describes artist and stage designer Es Devlin as a force of both nature and wisdom. In a wide ranging conversation Es reveals to Akram how being sensitive to movement has a profound effect on all her many and varied design projects. Es Devlin talks about the movement that is both within us and all around us, and how as an artist she harnesses it for creativity. From the subtleties of human eye movements and molecules moving in a space, to the breath that brings music to life, or the body’s fight-or-flight reaction to riding a bike, Es’s stories of a world in motion are both fascinating and inspiring. She also reveals to Akram her simple morning ritual involving movement of sunlight that grounds her at the beginning of each day.

For decades actor and director Andy Serkis has been at the cutting edge of how the movements and expressions of the human body can merge with animation to create creatures of myth and the imagination, from ''King Kong'' and Caesar from ''Planet of the Apes'' to Tolkien’s Gollum in ''The Lord of the Rings.'' He talks to Akram about his early days acting in theatre repertory where he learned how physicality connects with the body’s emotional center and about the intricate technique of performance capture - the egalitarian 21st-century actor's tool where any actor can play anything. He also discusses the freedoms that great movie directors like Peter Jackson and Mike Leigh have given him as an actor, and remembers his first experiences directing films himself.

Violinist and author Izzy Judd opens up to Akram about the impact that a family tragedy has had on her and the ways she has found to cope. As a past finalist on Britain’s Got Talent and a performer with her husband’s band McFly, she reflects on how a small venue can be more intimidating than a massive stadium. And when it comes to her children learning new skills, how is movement an essential ingredient, and is it ever right to be a pushy parent?

Actor, filmmaker, and activist Khalid Abdalla was born in Scotland to Egyptian parents and feels at home in both London and Cairo. His film credits include Paul Greengrass’s United 93, in which he plays one of the hijackers in the 9/11 attacks, Green Zone, The Kite Runner and Jehane Noujaim’s Oscar nominated The Square, about the Egyptian revolution of 2011 and its aftermath. Khalid also played Dodi Fayed in the Netflix series The Crown. In a wide ranging conversation with Akram, Khalid talks about his multifaceted life as a ''symphony'' within his body. He was part of the revolutionary crowd in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and describes the experience vividly while reflecting on the human impact of such demonstrations. We also find out where he feels the most physical freedom and what makes his body ''freeze.''

Francesca Hayward joined the Royal Ballet in London at the age of eighteen and since 2016 she has been a Principal dancer. She talks to Akram about her grandmother buying her a ballet video when she was three, how the stories she saw enveloped her, and how the drama of dance became her all-consuming passion. She says ''as a small person'' she likes to surprise people by using the stage to the max – her big jumps ''eating up the space'' and feeling like flying. And how although she doesn’t enjoy swimming on the surface of water, underwater she feels at home, ''like a fish.'' Francesca opens up to Akram about how she gets her body and mind into gear as she prepares to be confident and calm for a performance.