Aakash Odedra Company Will Perform SHIAMAK: WINTER FUNK Next Month

Virtuoso dancer Aakash Odedra set up Aakash Odedra Company (AOC) ten years ago. Now based in its own city centre studios in Leicester, the company aims to be a changemaker in education and the arts, to create a level playing field for neurodivergent artists and to reflect the diversity of its home city.

An exhibition of photography and archive material at De Montford University until 31 October tracks the development of the company and celebrates the 10th anniversary, while this winter season sees an array of performances and projects.

Up to 200 dancers perform Winter Funk as Aakash Odedra Company continues its relationship with Shiamak Davar International, the international Bollywood dance academy. Presented by AOC, Winter Funk is at Harrow Arts Centre on 13 November and Butterworth Hall, Warwick Arts Centre, on 21 November. A high-energy evening of Bollywood dance from Bolly Hop to Bolly Sass and beyond, Winter Funk is performed by dancers of all ages and abilities (100 in London, 200 in Warwick), all participants in Shiamak's unique training programme.

Odedra himself dances his internationally-acclaimed solo show Rising at Birmingham Hippodrome, where it premiered in 2011, on 17 November and Watermans Arts Centre, Brentford on 19 November. Rising features works by three of contemporary dance's biggest stars - Akram Khan, Russell Maliphant and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui - alongside Odedra's own creation.

Aakash Odedra company has joined forces with Spark Arts for Children to develop a new version of Odedra's 2014 show Murmur - based on his own experiences of dyslexia - for young diverse audiences of 7+ and their families.

Visual design and technology combine with dance and humour in an inspirational performance about the challenges of living with dyslexia. Little Murmur explores the warped and exaggerated realities of living in a world which is hard to process.

Aakash Odedra says: "This piece is about dyslexia but the essence of it is saying to the children that if you're different it doesn't mean that's bad - different is special, different is beautiful."

Little Murmur was created with two AOC apprentice dancers, Anaya Vasudha Bolar and Kalliirroi Vratti, and associate artistic director, Kesha Raithatha. It is performed by long-term AOC collaborator, Subhash Viman Gorania. Little Murmur has its premiere in Leicester schools in the Spark Festival from 8 to 11 February 2022. An education pack supported by the British Dyslexia Association will be available as part of the tour.

Learn more at https://aakashodedra.com/.

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