Akram Khan

Fear is a reaction, courage is a decision 

Akram Khan, Choreographer & Dancer
©Camilla Greenwell

Why was art and culture so important to Europe’s past, and why is it now so vital to our future?  

Well, in order to dig into this question I have to separate the underpinning pillars on which arts and culture stood.  

Personally, the pillars that support notions of respect, trust and empathy are  not just about personal values because I believe strongly that these values are our collective responsibility, helping shape the world in the future. 

Born and raised in Europe, one of the most vivid memories I can recall from my childhood was going to the theatre and art museums to experience mythical and magical stories, that today still resonate profoundly for me.  

But what struck me the most then, was simply, this innate desire that we all had, (regardless of our backgrounds), to express ourselves creatively through the art of storytelling.  

And I realised many years later, that this deep compulsion to weave moments and events together was a sort of ritual that we all possessed, and this primal ritual had a simple formula; that in order to live, we would first have to make some sort of sense of the world.  

Our cultural spaces in Europe have always been a beacon of hope, and a symbol of courage.  

‘Hope’, because within our culture, there is a road map of our past and our possible future. And ‘courage’, because without it, we will perish into chaos.  

And I believe deeply that if we have no map, no guide, no light to lead us out of the storm, then we may possibly lose ourselves forever, and become orphans of our own land. 

We have so often underestimated the value of our art and culture. It is not only when civilisations are flourishing, when our art and culture should be on display. But it is when we are at our most vulnerable, where art and culture serve the most valuable purpose to our societies. 

We are all aware that we are at some sort of complex crossroads, hence the direction we take from here on will have profound implications for us, our children’s and future generation’s psychological and physical well-being. 

I implore us all to take the road that requires the most courage, the courage to believe that a space where we are allowed to express and question what it means to be human, is an absolutely necessity for us all, as a society, and as a civilisation.  

Because if we don’t have the space to feel and express ourselves at home, we may never feel at home in the wider world.