The Buta Festival of Azerbaijani Arts returns to London, showcasing some of the country’s finest exports. At Sadler‘s Wells that means uniting Azerbaijani pianist Shahin Novrasli with English dancer Akram Khan for a night of jazz and dancing. Each evening Khan is accompanied by a different set of collaborators for improvised dances set to Novrasli‘s jazz.

Akram Khan and Israel Galvan have collaborated to bring the world of dance TOROBAKA. The piece fuses Khan’s Khathak work and Galvan’s flamenco technique to create a completely new language together. The two have clearly found a very strong dialogue between the styles and the moments where they converse together are the most electrifying in the production. This could have been enhanced by the fact Khan speaks no Spanish and Galvan, little English but, as Gavlan is quoted in the programme “We could understand each other very easily through dance”.