If Cacti is a celebration of not taking things too seriously, Akram Khan’s Vertical Road (Reimagined) 2023 is its spiritual counterweight. Drawing on Sufi tradition and the poetry of Rumi, this meditative, emotionally profound work follows twelve dancers through a physically demanding, ritualistic exploration of humanity, transformation, and transcendence.
There’s no comic narration here—just dust, dramatic lighting, and an atmospheric original score by Aditya Prakash and Nitin Sawhney that seems to hang in the air. Where Cacti invites laughter, Vertical Road (Reimagined) 2023 invites reflection. It’s a truly profound journey inward, an introspective passage from the weight of the earthly to something closer to grace.
Boston Ballet made history in 2023 making the world premiere of this reimagined version—a production so demanding that dancers rehearse exclusively on this piece for more than six weeks. Khan was so inspired by Boston Ballet that he added a prologue and character to his existing Vertical Road, thus becoming Vertical Road (Reimagined) 2023. The work belongs only to Boston Ballet’s dancers, in this moment. Audiences won’t see this version anywhere else.
Why See Them Together
Separately, each of these works is a compelling reason to come to the theater. Together, they become something more: a testament to how vast the language of contemporary dance really is. The same art form that makes you laugh at a stomping, cactus-wielding string quartet can, moments later, leave you sitting in stunned silence, moved by dust and stillness and the search for meaning.
Fall Experience doesn’t ask you to choose between humor and depth, satire and spirituality, rhythm and ritual. It gives you both—and trusts you to feel the difference.
