It opens like a monsoon. Flickering shadows reveal a Pakistani vocalist suspended upside down, yet still giving his all to a thrilling Sufi song.

Then there's a flash and downpour of Kathak chanting as seven dancers streaked with green and amber take on the shapes of a cobra in combat, a samurai warrior and seedlings growing into supple trunks.

South Bank wunderkid Akram is the son of Bangladeshi parents who brought him up in Epsom.

He specialises in a blend of ancient Indian Kathak and Western contemporary dance.

Kathak, which is sanskrit for storytelling, originated as a Hindu ritual performed in India's temples and, over time, became a dance form for courtly entertainment.

Akram was just seven and a keen Michael Jackson fan when his mother enrolled him in his first Kathak class. He never looked back. It wasn't until he was studying dance at university, though, that he discovered contemporary dance and began his innovative creation of what is often described as "contemporary Kathak".

"I was shocked in a positive way," he says. "I was 21 and had never seen contemporary dance before. When I saw my first performance, I came to realize how many artistic forms there were and it was a big turning point for me.

"What I now do is a new language that comes from confusion the confusion my body experienced while absorbing different languages of dance."

This performance of Ma (which means both mother and earth in Bengali) intergates this unique form of movement with text from writer Hanif Kureishi and live music from a Pakistani vocalist, a UK cellist and a South Indian percussionist.

Inspired by Booker-winning Arunhati Roy's essays on farmers forcibly ejected from their lands in India, the piece explores issues of kinship and the fragile connections between people and their land.

"In India, there are areas where many people still live off the earth and their relationship is very reciprocal," says Akram.

"As the earth provides themwith food and a livelihood, they take care of the land as a mother would a child."

*Starts 8pm, tickets cost £12.50-£15. Call 01273 709709.