Akram Khan's work has always been fascinated by journeys, be they geographical or metaphorical. But Bahok, the British choreographer's collaboration with the National Ballet of China, is his most literal production to date, and in a way it's not about going anywhere. It's about the strange limbo of waiting, that all-too-familiar moment when - stranded by delays at the airport - we enter a Zen zone of stalled momentum, frustrated by forces beyond our control.

As the director of a touring contemporary dance company, Khan knows a thing or two about travelling: he's spent much of the past eight years on the road. Add to that his consuming interest in the cross-fertilisation of cultures (he was born in London into a family of Bangladeshi origin) and for him this is a world in flux. Bahok, 75 minutes of inspired dance and storytelling, is his way of dealing with the maelstrom of change and uncertainty, his search for the universal home.

Khan has brought together eight compelling dancers, three from China's flagship ballet company and five from his own London- based troupe, representing six nationalities. We meet them in an anonymous departures lounge, where a large overhead board dribbles out unhelpful information: “Please wait”, “Delayed”. The dancers, fixated by its dictates, proceed to deliver spoken anecdotes written by themselves. These personal stories reveal their feelings about home and identity, about family and friendship, about the trials and tribulations of international travel, while Khan's choreography expresses the vexation and tenderness of their emotional states.

To know where you are going, asserts Bahok (the word means carrier in Bengali), you need to know where you are from, and for one woman that fundamental certainty is denied. For another, home is a pair of her father's shoes; for yet another, it's the mobile phone that keeps him in constant contact with loved ones.

Khan's choreography is adept at blending classical ballet and contemporary dance techniques, but it is the visceral speed and agility of kathak (his dance roots) that power the most amazing sections. In one, near the end, the dancers, arms frantically rotating like propellers, practically achieve lift-off. In a similar vein, Nitin Sawhney's brilliant score taps into spiritual and corporeal energies with an equal sense of excitement and elegance.

Are the eight dancers trying to get home, or is home something they take with them wherever they go? We will never know, just as Khan's poignant production makes it clear that their journey, like the eternal loop of some twilight zone, will never end.

Malvern Theatres (01684 892277), March 11-12; Brighton Dome, May 9-10; Sadler's Wells, June 11-14

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