London Premiere of SAMSARA Comes to Sadler's Wells in October

Aakash Odedra Company's epic new dance work Samsara premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival to a host of 5-star reviews. Now the work, a powerful story of cultural exchange and shared philosophy, has its London premiere at Sadler's Wells Theatre on 17 and 18 October, the company's debut there.

Samsara - a Sanskrit word for the cycle of birth, death and rebirth - is a collaboration between Aakash Odedra and Hu Shenyuan, two of the world's finest exponents of dance from their countries of origin, India and China. It takes as its starting point Wu Cheng'en's 16th century Chinese novel 'Journey to the West', one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature. It tells the story of the legendary pilgrimage to India undertaken by the monk Xuanzang returning to China with the central tracts of Buddhist philosophy. Many monks followed in Xuanzang's footsteps and their journeys were both literal and metaphorical, physical and spiritual.

Samsara takes place in a desert landscape peopled with eerie human statues, created by set designer, Tina Tzoka. Yaron Abulafia's lighting conjures a mythic world which the two dancers, Odedra and Shenyuan, enter and explore. Eventually they come together in a series of exquisitely-patterned virtuoso duets of challenge, reflection and exchange. Mongolian throat singing and traditional Chinese percussion are part of the powerful score, specially commissioned from Odedra's regular collaborator, Nicki Wells. Samsara is directed by Aakash Odedra and dramaturgy is by Lou Cope.

Aakash Odedra has attracted global attention for his virtuoso Kathak performances and his contemporary choreography. One of the outstanding dancers of his generation in China, Hu Shenyuan was the standout performer in Yang Liping's 'Under Siege' in 2016 - when Odedra first saw him and decided he wanted to work with him. The pair met in Shanghai in 2017 and, with no mutual spoken language, went on to create Samsara together.

Samsara has been made possible by the generous support of the Bagri Foundation, a family foundation dedicated to promoting the arts and culture of Asia. Aiming to challenge, engage and inspire, it gives artists and experts from across Asia, or those inspired by the continent, wider visibility on the global stage and supports a diverse programme of film, visual arts, music, dance, literature, courses and lectures.

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