Aakash Odedra Company and Bagri Foundation invite you to enter the world of Samsara. Inspired by the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, Samsara is a spellbinding piece that traces the steps we take, both forward and backward, in search of our higher selves.

UK/Indian dancer Aakash Odedra and Chinese dancer Hu Shenyuan draw on their diverse disciplines of ballet, Chinese folk, kathak and contemporary dance to explore the notion of samsara: the wheel of life, birth, existence and re-birth.

This compelling journey of self-development, fear and love traces a path across lands and through time, exploring the idea that if we let attachments go and allow light in, we might find a place of truth and peace. Drawing on thinking and imagery at the heart of Buddhist philosophy, Samsara’s mythological storytelling merges with personal experience from two globally opposite perspectives in a seductive, astonishing journey of twin movement.

[Image description] A bearded young man throws his arms out to the sides, the long tails of his red jacket and his wide trousers swinging out too, as if he’s stepping forward in mid-spin. A stream of dust or sand pours down on him from above, the whole scene lit in red light.