by Leigh Witchel
Samsara is a Buddhist concept of the infinite cycle of existence through birth and death. Though it was not long, Aakash Odedra Company’s Samsara seemed to end, several times. But it didn’t. At least there were some spiffy effects and gorgeous dancing on the way.
The piece used three musicians, at times visible to the audience, as often hidden behind a scrim and front and center, two dancers: Odedra and Hu ShenYuan. Odedra was born in Birmingham, England and trained first in kathak and bharatanatyam before adding study in western methods. Hu trained in China, and in 2019, won Dance Smash, a Chinese televised competition.
Samsara began with the striking of a gong three times. The curtain came up on a kneeling figure, with sand falling from above on it. It turned out to be a scene element, one of a few figures scattered on the stage. The lights picked out Hu at the center, almost naked in the falling sand, contorting in a long chiaroscuro solo. His pliable body stayed in one spot, but reaching out his arms and legs, he had an insectile quality that was a strange echo of The Novice in The Cage.
As if by magic he was suddenly wearing a hooded robe. The lighting effects in Samsara, designed by Yaron Abulafia, were exceptional, creating dark areas where the dancers vanished and reappeared, and action could be concealed with effects almost like Asian puppetry.
The pace of the opening was unrushed and atmospheric. The musicians were at first invisible, concealed behind a scrim. The drone of Buddhist chants suggested there was likely some recorded augmentation, but the three musicians, Nicki Wells, who composed and did vocals, Beibei Wang on percussion and Michael Ormiston on strings, produced a lot of sound in an eclectic score that drew from many sources.
To Wells’ disembodied voice, Odedra, also hooded, joined Hu, crossing the stage in darkness. Sometimes Samsara looked like combat, at other times, vignettes of a journey. Odedra swirled in the center. The two men took notice of one another and danced at each other across the stage, swirling, chopping, like two warriors stalking.
The pace picked up as what sounded like a taiko drum started to pound. The cultural references were all over the map, which was a clue that Samsara was a stew, not a multi-course meal.
In a long central section, the men did some of their most impressive dancing in a choreographed battle. The two confronted and tentatively examined one another, then had a conversation in stamps and claps. They moved their arms, made quick swivels, and did staccato jumps in place as commas in their movement phrases. Odedra brought kathak into his dialogue; Hu’s movement was echoed by the drum.
The duet was both elemental in its force, but showy, like most theatricalized combat. By this point, Samsara was holding together as a killer showpiece for two gifted dancers. Ormiston was playing strings, Wells was dum-tak-tay-ing the pattered bols from Carnatic music. Moving now at top speed and mostly nonstop; Samsara gained the energy and showmanship it needed to put the work over.
The piece slowed down again for a section of striking poses. The men slowly walked to one another and Hu took off his cloak, soon both men had removed their outer layer to reveal a long, silk jacket. Each men’s movement echoed martial arts, but of different places. Odedra appeared through Hu’s legs and in an ingenious moment, Hu put his feet around Odedra’s head, moving or wiggling them like animals’ ears. When they stood, Odedra moved his arms behind Hu, creating a four-armed deity. Then Odedra was suspended upside down, his legs hooked round Hu’s neck as Hu held Odedra in a headstand while he meditated, as if the pose were a metaphor for a world above and world below.
Hu backed out as Odedra slowly walked to a rumbling Buddhist chant.
That was the first ending. There would be several more.
Odedra struck various stances, doing kathak combinations to more bols. He ended this section with a silent shriek. Hu slowly walked in a crescendo of singing and drumming, until he crouched before a statue. Odedra walked to him and lifted him up, pointing to the statue but they progressed fitfully together in the opposite direction crossing the stage, but ending at center. There wasn’t a path or a route. Only a journey.
Odedra dragged Hu by his foot, again towards the statue. Odedra anointed it from a horn with sand, then Hu did as well, and poured sand on Odedra as he rolled. He left Odedra spinning in a shower of sand as the lights slowly faded.
That sounds like the end, doesn’t it?
Nope.
Hu arrived again, cloaked; Odedra poured sand on his head. Multiple cascades of sand appeared, at first on the figurines. Odedra tossed sand, and once again Hu held him upside down by legs, as Odedra poured sand through his hands.
Odedra put on Hu’s cloak, leaving him as he was at the opening, back in a dance belt. Out of nowhere he performed a ballet adagio. Like most Chinese dancers who survived a rigorous selection, Hu has extreme facility. He did splits, sky high extensions and stretches, all with hooked feet.
Arguably, this adagio virtuosity would have made more sense linked to the allegro technical fireworks of the middle. Here, where were they going with this, besides showing off? What was skillful now felt dragged out.
Odedra poured sand on him and they both knelt in a rain of sand as the piece actually ended after several fakeouts.
There was plenty that was good about Samsara. The virtuoso performances and an ingenious production made for a thrilling show. But when it succumbed to Multiple Ending Syndrome, it made you question what mattered most: a great piece or the performers’ egos?
copyright © 2024 by Leigh Witchel
Samsara – Aakash Odedra Company
Rose Theater, New York, NY
July 11, 2024
Cover: Aakash Odedra and Hu ShenYuan in Samsara. Photo © Lawrence Sumulong.
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