Thikra : A Night of Remembering

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 60^th 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’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.

The women are led by the Mother, a wise matriarch. She wears the icon of a circle, representing wisdom. She is supported by her twin daughters who will continue her legacy. Each is a mirror of the other; wearing half circles they are on a path of learning, striving towards completion.

 

Putting on masks, the tribe enact a state of forgetfulness and its perils. The Mother brings the tribe to consciousness through an encounter with the past, represented by the arrival of a figure. The Ancestor has been lost in time trying to find recognition and healing. Wearing a triangular icon, she is a prism that illuminates ancient traditions and historic civilisations. At the same time she conveys inherited learning.

The dancers express the struggle between remembering and forgetting. Through an intense process of exchange whereby the Ancestor is recognized and embraced, both history and contemporaneity are enriched. The Ancestor comes to terms with her past. The performance culminates with her ascent of the golden structure which represents her finding herself, and the tribe’s realization that their future cannot exist without remembering their past.