Aakash Odedra Company and Bagri Foundation Will Present the UK Premiere of SAMSARA

Aakash Odedra Company's next major project, Samsara, a collaboration between Odedra and Hu Shenyuan, premieres in the UK at Birmingham International Dance Festival on 11 June. Odedra and Shenyuan are two of the world's finest exponents of culturally-specific dance forms from their countries of origin, India and China.

Samsara takes as its starting point Wu Cheng'en's 16th century Chinese novel 'Journey to the West', one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature. It tells the story of the legendary pilgrimage to India undertaken by the monk Xuanzang returning to China with the central tracts of Buddhist philosophy. Many monks followed in Xuanzang's footsteps and their journeys were both literal and metaphorical, physical and spiritual.

Odedra and Shenyuan created Samsara with no spoken language in common. As both choreographers and performers they stage this story of cultural exchange and shared philosophy in a desert landscape peopled with eerie human statues, created by set designer Tina Tzoka. Yaron Abulafia's lighting conjures a mythic world which the two dancers enter and explore, first swathed in dark monks' habits, then pale golden robes, designed by K H Lee. They eventually meet in a series of exquisitely-patterned virtuoso duets of challenge, reflection and exchange. Figures in the shadows sing traditional Mongolian chants while a drummer adds visceral percussive power. The specially-commissioned score is by Odedra's regular collaborator Nicki Wells with dramaturgy by Lou Cope.

Odedra has attracted global attention for both his virtuoso Kathak performances and his contemporary choreography. One of the outstanding dancers of his generation in China, Shenyuan was the standout performer in Yang Liping's Under Siege at Sadler's Wells in 2016.

Samsara will receive its world premiere at the Asia TOPA Festival in Melbourne from 5 to 7 March 2020. Its planned Chinese premiere at the Shanghai International Dance Center in March is likely to be postponed until the autumn.

Samsara has been made possible by the generous support of the Bagri Foundation, a family foundation dedicated to promoting the arts and culture of Asia. Aiming to challenge, engage and inspire, it gives artists and experts from across Asia, or those inspired by the continent, wider visibility on the global stage and supports a diverse programme of film, visual arts, music, dance, literature, courses and lectures.

Aakash Odedra is Associate Artist at Curve, Leicester and Birmingham Hippodrome, co-producers of Samsara.

See the Samsara trailer here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qtgmb4pnbt726he/Samsara_Trailer_2019.mp4?dl=0