There are performances you watch, and there are experiences you feel in your bones. Aakash Odedra’s Songs of the Bulbul, which I witnessed last night at the Arts Centre Melbourne, is firmly in the latter category.
The bulbul, often described as an Asian songbird, is more than a bird in poetry. It stands for longing, devotion, and the ache to be free. That idea sits at the heart of this solo work by award-winning UK choreographer and dancer Aakash Odedra.
The piece begins almost at the point of birth. Odedra’s body feels embryonic at first—curled, restrained, searching. Slowly, through movement, the bulbul frees itself. There is a sense of discovery as it takes wing, exploring the vastness of the sky.
In these moments, the dance feels joyful and expansive. The freedom is not loud or showy; it lives in small shifts of weight, in spins, in the expressive precision of Kathak footwork and hands. You feel creativity opening up, breath by breath.
As the performance moves forward, the tone changes. The flight is no longer effortless. Space begins to feel limited. The bird is caged, which in ways are easy to read as age, time, or the narrowing of life itself. There is melancholy here, but it never turns sentimental.
Beneath the movement, Odedra quietly asks a larger, universal question: do we remain confined to the material world, like a caged bird, or do we find freedom in letting go? Developed with choreographer Rani Khanam and composer Rushil Ranjan, the work brings together a new musical score with the music, dance and poetic traditions of Sufism. The result is an ambitious piece that moves between ferocity and stillness, physical intensity and inward reflection, without ever losing its emotional hold.
Odedra use of Kathak and Sufi storytelling creates a quiet dialogue between intense physical effort and an inward, spiritual journey.
Towards the end, the work becomes deeply moving. Bound by its limits, the bulbul seems to sing more sweetly, as if aware that time is running out. The idea that the bird offers its most beautiful song just before the end lands gently but powerfully. It feels less like tragedy and more like acceptance.
What struck me most was how accessible the piece is. Even if you are new to Kathak, the dance feels contemporary and emotionally clear. It never demands prior knowledge. Instead, it invites you in. Personally, I feel this is one of the most effective ways to introduce new audiences to a rich Indian classical form—by letting the story lead, and allowing the technique to serve feeling rather than overwhelm it.
Songs of the Bulbul, winner of Best Show at the Edinburgh International Festival, is ultimately a meditation on life itself. On youth and ageing. On freedom and constraint. On how, when the spring of youth finally meets the winter of life, there is still beauty to be found in the last song.
A full house on the night proved that the song of the bulbul still knows how to find its audience.
Songs of the Bulbul runs until 7 February. For tickets, click here.
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