Touch the Sublime

The crowning ornament of Lincoln Center’s India Week was the collaborative creation and performance of “Samsara” by Aakash Odedra and Hu Shenyuan. India Week, the weeklong summer curation of events celebrating India’s culture, elevated the concept of performing arts with this journey to the sublime. The brilliantly danced narrative called forth images from history and practices of spirituality, all fueled by a stirring score to seep unforgettably into your soul.

Performance

“Samsara” by Aakash Odedra and Hu Shenyuan

Place

Lincoln Center, New York, NY, July 18, 2024

Words

Karen Greenspan

“Samsara” by Aakash Odedra and Hu Shenyuan. Photograph by Glen D’Mello

“Samsara,” inspired by the classic Chinese novel “Journey to the West,” draws from themes and imagery from this mythologized account of the historical pilgrimage of a seventh century Chinese monk. The story relates the monk’s 16-year journey to the west (from a Chinese perspective) through Central Asia to India to obtain sacred Buddhist texts. In the novel, the monk is joined on this arduous trek by three animal companions, and together, they succeed in their mission by virtue of their undeterred cooperation.

The word samsara refers to the endless cycle of repeated birth, mundane existence and dying that is a core belief in Indic thought. This suffering state, perpetuated by our unsatisfiable desire and delusion (that we are separate from one another), is what the spiritual systems spawned in the Indus Valley seek to awaken from. In speaking with Odedra about the title, he shared:

I was drawn to this monk’s journey because historically, there were 54 monks who had attempted this same journey and had not succeeded in making it back alive. I had this image in my mind of this monk walking through the Gobi Desert, seeing the footprints of those who had gone before him and feeling that he had been there before. Then I thought, ‘What if it was the same monk life after life after life… trying to reach this destination?’ That is how “Samsara” was born—from this idea of the wheel, this cycle of life and death and breaking free to attain this spiritual realization.

Hu Shenyuan in “Samsara.” Photograph by Chris Randle

Breaking free from the delusion of separateness is exactly what Odedra did. The collaborative production was composed and performed by Aakash Odedra (British-born South Asian) and Hu Shenyuan (Chinese), merging their differing global perspectives and different dance idioms. Odedra performs two classical Indian dance forms (Kathak and Bharatanatyam) and contemporary dance; Shenyuan performs classical Chinese dance and contemporary ballet. Working together with a team of extraordinary artists—composer and vocalist Nicki Wells, percussionist Beibei Wang, overtone singer Michael Ormiston, lighting designer Yaron Abulafia, and set designer Tina Tzoka—they birthed an expression of breathtaking imagery and stirring energy─at once epic and deeply personal.

Yaron Abulafia’s poetic lighting shapes the narrative and landscape with a palette of light and darkness determining what is seen and what is not. Thus, a pool of golden light reveals a figure kneeling in a puddle of sand downstage left as a stream of sand grains showers from above. It disappears into the darkness. A narrow cone of white light in the center introduces another figure, seated and gesturing upward. This being stretches and bends in all manner of contortions exploring the expanding lit space with a sinuous, creature-like physicality. Hu Shenyuan’s nearly naked body moves like pure mercury when suddenly, a hooded black cloak drops onto him. He disappears into the darkness and is replaced by a frozen, inanimate figure.

Another cloaked figure (Odedra) crosses the stage and comes upon the original kneeling figure, which we now perceive to be inanimate—part of Tina Tzoka’s brilliant set design. Odedra continues on his path gazing back at the figure.

Hu Shenyuan in “Samsara” “Samsara” by Aakash Odedra and Hu Shenyuan. Photograph by Mark Gambino

Soon the stage is demarcated by multiple cones of light illuminating small islands of sand and stone under a continuous golden rain of sand as the two hooded figures make repeated crossings. They stop and reflect upon the multiplying figures now visible on the isles of sand.

A lit projection on the floor defines a bridge of planks, which the two dancers step upon to meet in the center. With this introduction, these two completely unique dancers launch into and progress through a series of encounters that lead to a complete merging of bodies and expression.

The musicians, meanwhile, situated across the upstage border, are pulled into visibility as they build the drama with a powerful combination of vocals, percussion and Mongolian fiddle. Percussionist Beibei Wang drives a flying combat scene with her astoundingly physical, virtuosic drumming. Infused with martial arts energy, Odedra and Shenyuan, like action figures, leap, kick, fall, roll, and spin until they actually look at each other and recognize themselves in the other. This realization leads to mirroring one another and evolves into a playful Kathak challenge between the two. One presents the other with a percussion phrase to repeat and the responder must repeat the phrase and then answer with a composition of greater complexity and speed. Usually the Kathak musician does this with drumming or spoken rhythmic syllables; the dancer responds with percussive footwork and possibly body percussion. It was delightfully refreshing to watch Shenyuan translate this rhythmic conversation into his full-bodied movement style. At one point, he hurtles into leaps, turns, and a dive to the ground ending with a final riff slapped onto the floor.

Aakash Odedra and Hu Shenyuan in “Samsara.” Photograph by Nirvair Singh Rai

As the comradery builds, the black cloaks come off so that both dancers wear similar golden tunics with flowing white pants—the costumes by K H Lee. Their bodies intertwined while seated on the floor one in front of the other, the two dancers appear as a four-armed deity. With a change of position, Shenyuan frames the sides of Odedra’s face with the soles of his feet like large animal ears—a humorous allusion to the monk’s animal entourage. Finally, Shenyuan comes to his feet and spins, his hands clasped together in prayer. All the while, he is carrying Odedra, who hangs upside down, his feet clasped around Shenyuan’s neck.

With a ping of the finger cymbals, Shenyuan releases Odedra and remains still, hands in a gesture of prayer, like a serene Buddha. The chanting of a Sanskrit mantra impels Odedra into a bravura Kathak solo. Bathed in golden light, he zips about the stage with electrifying energy punctuating the space striking momentary postures of the all-powerful deity Shiva. Nicki Wells sounds off verbal acrobatics with a rapid-fire recitation of Indian percussion syllables as Odedra leaps through the air eventually landing to circle the space with a chain of pirouettes on his knees.

Each absorbing tableau organically leads to another with a seamless dramaturgy by Lou Cope. Shenyuan spreads a path of sand before Odedra and gestures the way forward. They alternate forming a path and leading the other. The destination feels near as the stage lights up—now populated with many more sculpted figures. Imitating the sculptures’ poses and wooden quality (although the brownish figures are actually made of foam), the two embrace in a couple’s dance like two wooden or aged figures.

The sand flows freely—in thin streams above every sculpted figure as well as from pouches that the dancers find and pour about the stage. And its symbolism is brilliant—indicating an endless cycle of lifetimes, the monk’s lengthy journey, and the earthy matrix that unites all beings. The two dancers shower each other with the abundant substance in joyous acts of purification and dive into full prostrations in the manner of Buddhist pilgrims at sacred sites. In the final sublime instant, they each take the posture of the Buddha and echo the enduring search for spiritual truth.

Karen Greenspan

Karen Greenspan is a New York City-based dance journalist and frequent contributor to Natural History Magazine, Dance Tabs, Ballet Review, and Tricycle among other publications. She is also the author of Footfalls from the Land of Happiness: A Journey into the Dances of Bhutan, published in 2019.

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