Rising Aakash Odedra Review
Aakash Odedra who is a young British South Asian dancer shows just how talented he is by performing in this four part dance performance to a full house at the Curve Theatre in Leicester, choreographered by award winning trio Akram Khan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Russell Maliphant & himself.
Each part was as captivating as the next watching Aakash’s smooth moves which flowed elegantly in each piece. He has incredibly fast feet as he shows throughout the first part of the performance before moving onto ‘In The Shadow Of Man’.
In this part his animalistic side takes over and creates a mysterious, dark yet compelling to watch atmosphere. The way he is able to make his shoulder blades move as part of the act is impressive as it showed how much thought had been put into that particular piece.
The last two parts of the show were magical & I have to say my favorite a truly brilliant finish to the evening.
The visual effects accentuated his technical movements through the shadows for example one of the most memorable moments when Aakash danced through the narrow rays of light spinning forward towards the front of the stage, it was mesmerising & the audience couldn’t help but applaud him.
The final part was uplifting almost like watching an angel as he flowed through the numerous light bulbs which hung in the air dressed in white. As the performance comes towards an end Aakash settles down with one bulb in his hands & looks like he is in a meditative trance.All the other bulbs start flashing & the music changes like a throbbing sound (timely with the flashing) the mood becomes intense.
The press release states that “Exploring processes and aesthetics to create a new personal language and origination of contemporary dance, the performance features lighting by Michael Hulls and
video interludes developed in partnership with John Marc Gowans”.
It’s not often that I tend to agree with what press releases say, but I think it’s safe to say this one hit the nail on the head.
