The project has been commissioned by DanceXchange, Sampad, Eastman, The Hat Factory, Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Dance, South East Dance, New Art Exchange, The Place, Curve Theatre, Leicester and funded by Arts Council England and Akademi. It premiered on December 9, 2011.
Nritta (Kathak)
Choreography: Aakash Odedra | Music arranged by: Aakash Odedra
Nritta (pure dance) is divided into two elements of the masculine and feminine. The strong sharvic power drawing from the God of Dance Shiva in his tandav form (vigorous dance) mixed with droplets of lasya (soft circular seductive) moves belonging to his other half Parvati/Prakriti. Tandav also symbolizes the cosmic cycles of creation and destruction, as well as the daily rhythm of birth and death. Nritta displays the merging male and female to give birth to a form with perfect balance called ardhanareshwara (symbolizing oneness of both beings). Nritta is the exploration and the discovery of time, space, rhythm, and how one’s potential energy affects the relationship with them.
-Aakash Odedra
In The Shadow Of Man
Choreography: Akram Khan | Lighting: Michael Hulls | Music: Jocelyn Pook | Rehearsal Directors: Jose Agudo, Lewis Major
The direction for this solo choreography, is not so much about making a piece, as it is about exploring my continuous fascination with the 'animal' we have within ourselves. I feel the question that is constantly evoked during my research of the 'body', is that as human beings, we continue to evolve from generation to generation, but “are we becoming more 'human' over time, or are we becoming more like ‘animals?’”.
I have always felt a strong connection to the 'animal' embedded within the Indian dance tradition. Kathak masters have so often used animals as forms of inspiration, even to the point of creating a whole repertoire based on the qualities, movements, and rhythms of certain animals. So, in this journey with Aakash, I was fascinated to discover if there was an animal residing deep within the shadow of his own body.
-Akram Khan
Cut
Choreography: Russel Maliphant | Lighting: Michael Hulls | Music by: Andy Cowton | Rehearsal Director: Lewis Major
For Cut I wanted to create a piece using elements and dynamics that Aakash is familiar with from his background in Kathak and Bharata Natyam. I wanted to shape that into a world where the lighting cuts and highlights that movement and creates a contained world that expresses its own logic of flow and form. Working with lighting designer Michael Hulls to achieve this, and with composer Andy Cowton, both of whom I have collaborated with many times on past works, Cut is the result of this collaboration.
-Russel Maliphant
Constellation
Choreography: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui | Lighting: Willy Cessa | Music: Olga Wojciechowska | Rehearsal Directors: Paul Zivkovic, Lewis Major
Lightning and thunder. Light and sound. The illusions of distance and proximity they convey in a sky that deceptively appears a constant. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui has been fascinated by the different images these convey, while their source is often one and the same. He seeks to highlight different patterns of sound and different sources of light that come together to create a constellation, a system where things are kept suspended and in movement by each other’s gravitational fields and contending forces.
Aakash Odedra lives both in Birmingham and Leicester and has begun to catch the eye of dance programmers across the UK. The project has been commissioned by DanceXchange, Sampad, The Hat Factory, Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Dance, South East Dance, New Art Exchange, The Place, Curve and funded by Arts Council England and Akademi. Widely known as an accomplished Kathak dancer, Aakash Odedra is also trained in a range dance styles including Bharata Natyam, Indo-Jazz and Contemporary. He has trained with acclaimed dancers such as Chitraleka Bolar and Nilima Devi in the UK and Asha Joglekar and Chhaya Kanvateh in India.
