A beautiful, astonishingly well-crafted piece of art.
I’ll be honest. I’m not a dancer. I admire the artform itself, though it’s something with which I have little experience as a viewer. So when I read the spiel about this performance, I winced. A 70-minute dancing duet about forbidden love themed around fragrance? I wasn’t convinced. But on a warm Friday night at Sadler’s Wells, I was converted. The show is a masterpiece.
One must begin with the dancers. Aakash Odedra and Aditi Mangaldas are clearly at the top of their game. Their physicality, precision and craft are breathtaking, as is their clear, often-sensual chemistry and embodiment of character. In some moments, their fluidity elevates them into a oneness; in others, the minuscule yet considered differences carve out strong, independent journeys. The choreography tightropes from elegant softness to sharp pizzicato claps and jabs to the powerfully rhythmic stamps of Tatkaar to dizzying, frenetic whirling–all maintaining the invisible tie between the pair of dancers. No praise would be too high for this duo, and the fact that it is Mangaldas’ first ever duet is beyond words.
Their performance is excellently accompanied by a high-class troupe of musicians: Ashish Gangani, Faraz Ahmed, Hiren Chate and Nicki Wells. The three drummers are captivating in both their skill and their onstage presence, as their playing serves to represent society’s wish for our lovers to be apart. As such, the drumming is often relentless and unflinching and rests on the pure quality and synchronisation of their mridangam playing. Wells’ score classily aids Karthika Naïr’s dramaturgy and her vocals fill the space with an entrancing, ethereal texture.
I’m running out of adjectives. Every element of the design is perfect. Tina Tzoka’s set appears as large hanging shards of broken glass, evoking ideas of fragmentation, layers (through its moving pieces) and reflection, and Fabiana Piccioli’s lighting design is mesmerising, managing to capture all of the fragility, sensuality and distance contained within the main lovers’ relationship.
It’s a beautiful story, about forbidden love and the power of fragrance: an intangible, primal force which so often serves as a time machine. The show dances through those all-too-familiar elements of love and loss and keeps the audience fully entranced throughout. The first section alone, with its gorgeous use of light, mirrors and powder–lovingly handled by Odedra–is worth the ticket alone.
This production is an absolute dream for a thesaurus-ready reviewer. Sadler’s Wells, Aakash Odedra Company and Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company deserve our thanks and support for creating an impressive and moving piece of art: once which means at least this dance novice will be back for more.