The prominent choreographer and dancer Aakash Odedra comes from Great Britain to present a work that blends contemporary dance and traditional Indian dances.
Four solos make up Rising, four choreographers sign their authorship, but only Aakash Odedra is on stage. From different processes and aesthetics, each of these pieces was created for him, uniting contemporary dance with Odedra's experience in kathak and bharata-natiam, classic Indian dances.
The work, released in 2011, marked the debut of the Aakash Odedra Company and positioned him as one of the most promising figures in British dance. “A beautiful performer” and “a dancer to follow” are some of the comments published at the time by the English newspaper The Guardian.
Rising integrates the solos Cut, by Russell Maliphant; In the shadow of man, by his mentor Akram Khan; Constellation, by Belgian Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui; and Nritta, from Odedra himself. With diverse themes, Odedra travels in these choreographies through the animality of man, the feminine and masculine, and the illusion of distance and closeness of the sky on a stage full of light bulbs.
During her stay, Odedra will also carry out contemporary dance and kathak workshops, and will participate in a session of the dance criticism workshop of the GAM Winter School. Aakash Odedra arrives in Chile with the support of the British Council.
Rising is a work that was commissioned by ‘DanceXchange: Sampad; Eastman; The Hat Factory Leicester; Leicestershire and Rutland Dance; South East Dance; New Art Exchange; ThePlace; and Curve Theatre, Leicester. It was initially funded by Arts Council England and Akademi.