Ten years ago Aakash Odedra was the next big thing. Mentored by Akram Khan, in 2011 Odedra got himself noticed internationally by commissioning three big-name choreographers to make solos for his show Rising. A decade on, Leicester-based Odedra has revived Rising and it’s clear his dancing is as inspiring as ever.
The opening kathak solo, his own Nritta, shows Odedra’s roots in Indian classical dance, and it’s full of Tiggerish bounce and smile. His arms dart in lightning diagonals dissolving as quickly as they streak through the air. The guest choreographers chose not to draw on this levity and bright personality, plumping for darker, graver territory, but they do take advantage of the speed of Odedra’s slender frame, the spirals and corkscrews of kathak turns and the fine eloquence of his hands.
Khan’s choreography for In the Shadow of Man brings out Odedra’s animal spirit: crouching, stretching, snaking, shying away from the audience’s eyes with feral yelps. Even when he’s got his back to us you can feel presence and conviction. But more rewarding is Russell Maliphant’s Cut, with Odedra caught in a square of light, body strobing as he moves through the beam. It’s not dissimilar to other Maliphant pieces, but Odedra brings his own qualities: the flight of his arms, blurring with superhero speed, morphing from fluttering and swooping wings to licking flames.
Then he’s on his knees, palms facing up to the light as if his dance is a spiritual offering. It’s a similar feeling that closes the show in Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Constellation. Spinning under an arch of glowing bulbs, Cherkaoui’s limb-tangling floorwork is turned into something more delicate by Odedra’s light touch. But the coda raises the intensity with Odedra cross-legged and cradling a single bulb, his hands scrolling and circling. The charged space between palms expands as if drawing power from the orb.
A pandemic-friendly programme of four short solos can’t help but feel slight, yet sometimes the focused energy of one person on stage is enough. The result of this Rising revival is much the same as its premiere: you want to see Odedra dance more.
At Curve, Leicester, until 25 May. Then at Oxford Playhouse on 1 July and the Lighthouse, Poole, on 7 July.
