On 20 and 21 November 2026, the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s first cultural centre, opened in 1981 at the initiative of Sheikh Zayed beside Qasr Al Hosn will present the contemporary dance production, Thikra: Night of Remembering.
Commissioned by Wadi AlFann, a global cultural destination for contemporary art in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, the production is the latest work by multi-award-winning director and choreographer Akram Khan. Renowned for his unique movement language that blends contemporary and classical Indian dance, the performance is a collaboration with Visual Director, Manal AlDowayan, who has created the set design and costumes. The production is presented in partnership with the Cultural Foundation under DCT Abu Dhabi.
Thikra from the Arabic for “memory” and “remembrance” is conceived as a night ritual: women gather for one night only to awaken the spirits of those who came before them. Through a sacred ceremony and shared remembrance, they transcend the boundaries of time, uniting past and present in a profound act of renewal. The original score is by the Indian-American singer and composer Aditya Prakash, featuring more than 40 international musicians, including recordings of local musicians from AlUla. The performance has been created with artisans from AlUla’s art and design centre; Madrasat Addeera, AlUla Music Hub and members of AlUla’s community.
Akram Khan, Artistic Director and Co-founder of Akram Khan Company, said: “Thikra: Night of Remembering is a work that is a personal and spiritual reflection on remembering on what we choose to carry forward and what we must lay to rest. Collaborating with Manal AlDowayan and creating Thikra in the landscape of AlUla reminded me of art’s profound ability to connect us across cultures, geographies and generations. It feels like a meaningful conclusion to the current chapter of the Company, a celebration of the stories, ideas and connections that have shaped us over the last 25 years.”
The visual world of the production was created by Wadi AlFann visual artist Manal AlDowayan, known for her large-scale multimedia installation in the Saudi Arabia Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale. For Thikra, she brought traditional craft together with contemporary form: natural dyes echo the tones of the desert landscape, and geometric motifs drawn from the heritage of AlUla mark the role and symbolism of each protagonist.
“Thikra: Night of Remembering is about the power of memory, women’s stories, and the strength of community. It marks a personal milestone as my first time working on both costume and set design, as well as my first collaboration with my friend and great creative force Akram Khan. This unique opportunity has allowed me to incorporate performance into my artistic practice, blending performance, sound, costume and local artistry to honour the past and inspire the future,” said Manal AlDowayan.
Hamad Alhomiedan, Director, Arts and Creative Industries, Royal Commission for AlUla, said: “We are incredibly proud and moved to see Thikra: Night of Remembering continue to tour across the globe and return to the region. A major commission by Wadi AlFann, an upcoming global destination for contemporary art, not only is Thikra a world-first for Saudi Arabia, but it also highlights the invaluable contributions of local talent and craftsmanship from the people of AlUla. Taking inspiration from thousands of years of ancient civilisations, AlUla is once again emerging as a crossroads of cultures.
We are delighted to have worked with Akram Khan and Manal AlDowayan to bring this magnificent and epic performance to the world, and we look forward to welcoming audiences in Abu Dhabi.”
The work is inspired by the ancient myths and dramatic landscapes of AlUla. The site-specific world premiere took place in January 2025 under the stars in the ancient oasis of AlUla, set against the cliffs of Wadi AlFann’s desert canyon and featured as part of the AlUla Arts Festival 2025. The indoor adaptation has toured since June 2025 and brings the 25-year journey of the legendary Akram Khan Company, founded by Akram Khan and Farooq Chaudhry, to a meaningful turning point, with the Company announcing that Thikra would be its final touring production. The tour will run through to March 2027.
These performances of Thikra: Night of Remembering are a rare chance to see the company bring this chapter of its history to an end with a work of such force and brilliance.
Artistic Team & Credits:
- Director & Choreographer: Akram Khan
- Visual Director / Costume & Scenography: Manal AlDowayan
- Narrative Concept: Manal AlDowayan & Akram Khan
- Associate Artistic Director & Coach: Mavin Khoo
- Music Composer & Soundscape Designer: Aditya Prakash
- Sound Designer: Gareth Fry
- Lighting Designer: Zeynep Kepekli
- Associate Lighting Designer: Imogen Clarke
- Dramaturge: Blue Pieta
Commissioned by Wadi AlFann, Valley of the Arts, AlUla
Primary Co-producing Partner: Bagri Foundation
Indoor adaptation co-produced by Berliner Festspiele, Brown Arts Institute at Brown University, Montpellier Danse Festival, Pina Bausch Zentrum, Sadler’s Wells, Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Théâtre de la Ville Paris
About Akram Khan Company:
In July 1999, in the foyer of the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, an animated and curiosity-filled conversation took place between the young gifted dancer/choreographer Akram Khan and an ambitious former dancer and recently graduated arts manager Farooq Chaudhry. That conversation laid the foundation stone for a dynamic collaboration, culminating in the creation of Akram Khan Company one year later.
Inspired by Akram Khan’s early training in the Indian classical dance form kathak, and the hybrid language that organically emerged when Akram’s kathak training encountered contemporary dance in his teens, a vision began to form, fuelled by a desire to learn and create through collaboration with the very best people across all the disciplines in the arts.
The rules were simple: take risks, think big and daring, explore the unfamiliar, avoid compromise and tell stories through dance that are compelling and relevant, with artistic integrity.
In almost 25 years, Akram Khan Company has become undisputedly one of the foremost innovative dance companies in the world. The programmes range from kathak and modern solos to artist-to-artist collaborations and ensemble productions. The Company has a major international presence and enjoys busy tours that reach out to many cultures and peoples across the globe. Akram Khan has been the recipient of numerous international dance awards, the most notable being an Olivier Award for his solo production DESH in 2012.
A milestone in the Company’s journey was the creation of a section of the London Olympic Games Opening Ceremony in 2012.
Akram Khan Company enjoys artistic association with Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London, Curve in Leicester, and other leading venues and festivals around the world.
About Arts Council England:
Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. Our vision, set out in our strategy Let’s Create, is that by 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish, and where every one of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. Between 2023 and 2026 we will have invested over £467 million of public money from Government, alongside an estimated £250 million each year from The National Lottery, to help ensure that people in every part of the country have access to culture and creativity in the places where they live. Until Autumn 2025, the National Lottery is celebrating its 30th anniversary of supporting good causes in the United Kingdom: since the first draw was held in 1994, it has raised £49 billion and awarded more than 690,000 individual grants. Visit our website to learn more about our work.
About Manal AlDowayan:
Manal AlDowayan is one of Saudi Arabia’s most significant contemporary artists working internationally. Her work, which spans various mediums including photography, sound, sculpture, and participatory practice, interrogates traditions, collective memories, and the status and representation of women.
AlDowayan’s work has been exhibited regionally and internationally in institutions such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, USA (2023); the Royal Ontario Museum, Canada (2023); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, USA (2023); Louvre Abu Dhabi, UAE (2023); Misk Art Institute, Saudi Arabia (2023, 2022); Setouchi Triennale, Japan (2022); Diriyah Biennale, Saudi Arabia (2022); Taehwa River Eco Festival, Korea (2021); Victoria & Albert Museum, UK (2021); British Museum, UK (2021); Desert X AlUla, Saudi Arabia (2020); the Aga Khan Museum, Canada (2018); Institut du monde arabe, France (2017); the Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE (2016); Santander Art Gallery, Spain (2016); Prospect New Orleans, USA (2014); Gwangju Museum of Art, South Korea (2014); Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar (2014); among others. In 2024, AlDowayan represented Saudi Arabia at the 60th La Biennale di Venezia. Her works can be found in the collections of the British Museum, UK; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark; the Centre Pompidou, France; Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar; and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, USA. She participated in the Robert Rauschenberg Residency, USA (2015), and the artist-in-residence program at the Delfina Foundation, UK (2009). She holds an MA in Contemporary Art Practice in Public Spheres from the Royal College of Art, London. Born in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia in 1973, AlDowayan currently lives and works between London and Dhahran.
About Arts AlUla:
The creation of Arts AlUla within The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) is a commitment to crafting the next chapters in millennia of artistic creation — celebrating cultural inheritance, presenting the art of our time, and shaping a future propelled by creativity. AlUla has long been a consistent and ever-evolving hub of cultural transfer. It has been a place of passage, a crossroads for trade, and home to successive civilizations who carved, sculpted and inscribed their lives into the landscape. The work of Arts AlUla seeks to preserve this legacy: fuse the old with the new; the local with the international, keeping the arts central to the spirit of AlUla as a place of extraordinary natural and human heritage. Arts AlUla will bring to fruition a series of new initiatives, projects and exhibitions. The artwork curation will speak to RCU’s vision for the continued development of AlUla’s contemporary art scenes: positioning the arts as a key contributor to AlUla’s character, the quality of life for its local community and the region’s economic future. Arts AlUla focuses on transferring the talents of the Saudi nation and the local AlUla community into meaningful long-standing social and economic opportunities. This is a key part of the Journey through Time masterplan bringing together the 15 different landmark destinations for culture, heritage and creativity across AlUla.
About Wadi AlFann:
Wadi AlFann, meaning ‘Valley of the Arts’, will be a global cultural destination for contemporary art, where era-defining works by artists from around the world will be permanently sited in the monumental landscape of AlUla, the extraordinary desert region of north-west Saudi Arabia.
New, large-scale, site-specific commissions by Manal AlDowayan (b. 1973, Saudi Arabia), Agnes Denes (b. 1931, Hungary), Michael Heizer (b. 1944, USA), Ahmed Mater (b. 1979, Saudi Arabia) and James Turrell (b. 1943, USA) will be the first five works to be conceived for Wadi AlFann, a spectacular valley spanning approximately 65 square kilometres. Further artists are engaged and commissioned through temporary exhibitions including Desert X AlUla, the ‘Wadi AlFann Presents’ performance commissioning and exhibitions programmes, and the Public Art programme.
Wadi AlFann will offer a profound opportunity to experience art in dialogue with nature. Learning from the desert, the artists are responding to the landscape of AlUla, taking inspiration from its dramatic topography, undulating vistas, remarkable geological structures and complex natural ecosystem and local communities. The works will be created with respect for the landscape, set against the stunning sandstone cliffs and canyons of the vast terrain.
Wadi AlFann will provide unparalleled opportunities for local communities to experience art as a source of education and enrichment. Through job creation, skills development and engagement with local creatives, Wadi AlFann will strengthen AlUla’s cultural economy, inspiring a new generation of arts professionals and enhancing quality of life for its residents.
This epic new destination will also welcome art lovers, adventurers, and globetrotters from across the world on a transformative cultural journey to a unique place of creative and geographical wonder, continuing the region’s history as a place of cross-cultural exchange.
About AlUla:
Located 1,100 km from Riyadh, in North-West Saudi Arabia, AlUla is a place of extraordinary natural and human heritage. The vast area, covering 22,561 km², includes a lush oasis valley, towering sandstone mountains and ancient cultural heritage sites dating back thousands of years to when the Lihyan and Nabataean kingdoms reigned. The most well-known and recognised site in AlUla is Hegra, Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site. A 52-hectare ancient city, Hegra was the principal southern city of the Nabataean Kingdom and is comprised of 111 well-preserved tombs, many with elaborate facades cut out of the sandstone outcrops surrounding the walled urban settlement. Current research also suggests Hegra was the most southern outpost of the Roman Empire after the Romans conquered the Nabataeans in 106 CE. In addition to Hegra, AlUla is also home to ancient Dadan, the capital of the Dadan and Lihyan Kingdoms and considered to be one of the most developed 1st millennium BCE cities of the Arabian Peninsula, and Jabal Ikmah, an open-air library of hundreds of inscriptions and writings in many different languages, which has been recently listed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. Also AlUla Old Town Village, a labyrinth of more than 900 mudbrick homes developed from at least the 12th century, has been selected as one of the World’s Best Tourism Villages in 2022 by the UNWTO. Additionally, Hijaz Railway and Hegra Fort, which are key sites in the story and conquests of Lawrence of Arabia.
