Songs of the Bulbul
Review by Inesa Vėlavičiūtė
Returning to the Edinburgh International Festival after the mesmerising 2022 performance of Samsara, acclaimed artist Aakash Odedra presents another spiritual dance piece, this time delving into an ancient Sufi myth about a captured songbird bulbul. Created in collaboration with choreographer Rani Khanam and composer Rushil Ranjan, Songs of the Bulbul seamlessly weaves the rich traditions of Sufi Kathak dance, music and poetry into a ritualistic exploration of the transient nature of life.
Set against a dreamy backdrop of hanging tree branches and falling red petals, the performance takes the audience to a tranquil forest where the narrative transcends both time and space. The hypnotic visual experience is packed with concentrated emotion, channelled through Odedra’s eloquent physical virtuosity. The dynamic choreography blends fluid, rhythmic movements, whirling and intricate footwork of the Sufi Kathak dance with contemporary elements of more sculpted, contained or erratic dance moves, rolling and crawling, reflecting both the ebb and flow of contemplation and ecstatic bursts of energy. The dance vividly captures the bird’s playful curiosity, frantic struggles for freedom and the grounded, despairing stillness as the piece reaches its emotional climax.
The music, composed by Ranjan, adds a profound emotional depth to the performance. His delicate yet powerful cinematic score, interlaced with Sufi chants and strategic silences, mirrors the dancer’s journey, exploring different atmospheres of joy, chaos, and transformation.
Fabiana Piccioli’s lightning design further enhances the harmony between sound and movement. Incorporating both the dim and intense ends of a spectrum, the shifting lights follow the breath-taking vigour of the dancer’s body. The correlation of light and the contrasting black, white and red colour scheme on stage can be seen as a rounded dance too, with gesticulations of one being transformed into the gesticulations of another. This circularity throughout all aspects of the production reflects the cyclical and ephemeral nature of existence.
Songs of the Bulbul charms and captivates from start to finish. It is a masterful example of how dance can transcend mere movement to become a powerful meditation on life’s impermanence.
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This review is published by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland as part of our Traditional Dance Criticism Course, led by dance writer and editor Róisín O’Brien and supported by dance scholar and editor Dr Wendy Timmons.
Inesa Vėlavičiūtė is one of the six applicants, alongside Yuxi Jiang, Catherine Coutts, Alena Shmakova, Vassia Bouchagiar-Walker and Yanmei Bowie, who were selected to participate in this pilot edition of the course in 2024.
Songs of the Bulbul was performed at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh 9-11 August 2024 as part of Edinburgh International Festival. Songs of the Bulbul was one of over 10 shows with trad dance roots across the Edinburgh’s summer festivals we hand-picked to be reviewed.
Images courtesy of Kuldeep Goswami.
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