Aakash Odedra Company, #JeSuis, Lilian Baylis Studio

The British dancemaker Aakash Odedra asks what makes ‘home’ when millions are on the move in #JeSuis, his first group piece for his own company.

Birmingham-born Odedra is trained in the classical Indian dance styles of Kathak and Bharat Natyam and was mentored in contemporary dance by Akram Khan.

Odedra established Aakash Odedra Company in 2011 as a vehicle for commissioning solos and to develop his own choreography. His debut full-length solo performance, Rising, incorporated original short works created on him by Khan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Russell Maliphant.

#JeSuis sees seven young Turkish dancers embody an emotionally-charged physical exploration of oppression in all its guises.


The international collaboration has taken several years to come to fruition, as Odedra met the dancers for #JeSuis while he was teaching in Istanbul in 2012. Inspired by their responses to media misinterpretations of their country, Odedra decided to create a contemporary dance production that considers displacement, refuge and instability.

#JeSuis uses a fusion of dance styles to portray the frustrations of lives lived in conflict. The title echoes ‘Je Suis Charlie,’ the slogan created to show solidarity with the victims of the attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris in 2015.

An equally appalling attack occurred in Istanbul barely two years later, yet failed to capture media attention in the same way. #JeSuis, argues that some acts of violence are more readily shared than others.

Prepare for a powerful and political contemporary dance production, performed to a score by Odedra’s long-term collaborator Nicki Wells.