IIf you watch contemporary dance, you know the gloom that is often omnipresent. Rumbling and droning soundtracks, dark, shadowy stages; an ever-present apocalyptic mood. And sometimes you think: could we find a little joy here, a little hope? What would that look like?
One answer is Aakash Odedra’s Songs of the Bulbul. Odedra’s solo dance sails on composer Rushil Ranjan’s lush, cinematic score. Ranjan has written scores for Netflix and others, and this one has the grand sweep of an Indian epic, unabashedly dramatic, with recurring themes you can hum along to by the end of the evening. Is that too much? Some might think so, finding the unbridled emotion too bombastic, too deliberately provocative. But why not use the full power of the music? There may be only one performer, but the stage is bursting with emotion.
At the beginning, the mood on stage feels like dawn breaking in all its hope. There is a palpable connection with nature, thick branches hanging vertically from the ceiling like an abstract forest, red flower petals floating from the sky. Odedra’s dance is serene and joyful. He is known as a wonderful performer of the North Indian dance Kathak, a fast and light dancer with the precision of a classical training. But here, in the choreography of Rani Khanam, who combines Kathak with Sufism, Odedra seems freer, wilder; he circles and swoops down, the fabric of his robe fluttering in his wake. The show’s invigorating idea, drawn from Sufism and Islamic poetry, revolves around the symbol of the bulbul, a caged songbird whose song becomes sweeter the closer it comes to death. The story is subtle rather than explicit. It feels like a hero’s quest. It is not about fighting enemies in foreign lands, but rather about searching within yourself, with the same opportunities for adventure, adversity, loss and triumph.
Leicester-based Odedra has been on a roll in recent years, creating the moody, poetic duets Samsara (with Hu Shenyuan) and Mehek (with Aditi Mangaldas). Songs of the Bulbul exudes the confidence of an artist who has found his place. It is a song about beauty, light and life.
