Mehek by Aditi Mangaldas and Aakash Odedra

Winner of the 2024 UK Theatre Award for Achievement in Dance, this daring Kathak-contemporary duet navigates an unspoken relationship, trading vulnerability, restraint, and desire in a quietly charged encounter.

 Placing emotional honesty at its core, ‘Mehek’ brings together two stellar artists—Aditi Mangaldas & Aakash Odedra—united across generations. Centered on a relationship seldom acknowledged, between a mature woman and a younger man, the choreography unfolds through proximity, vulnerability, doubt, and attentive physicality.

Mangaldas brings five decades of classical rigour and contemporary exploration to the performance. Odedra’s movement—precise, fluid, and deeply expressive—draws from both classical discipline and modern influences. Together, they create moments “where their fluidity elevates them into oneness,” writes A Young(ish) Perspective, UK.

The performance moves beyond traditional Kathak structures, allowing pauses, mirrors, and reflective space to speak as powerfully as movement itself. Staging and design are integral to the work—Fabiana Piccioli’s lighting accentuates subtle emotional shifts, Tina Tzoka’s set reflects the mirrored intimacy of the duet, and the original score by Nicki Wells, alongside compositions by Ashish Gangani, Faraz Ahmed, and Hiren Chate, heightens tension and resonance. Gangani, Ahmed, Chate, and Wells perform live, weaving rhythm and melody into the dancers’ physical dialogue.

The Times celebrates this collaboration as “intoxicating…exhilarating…immediately captivating.” “Aakash demonstrated why he is one of the finest British Asian dancers of all time,” raves Eastern Eye. The dramaturgy by Karthika Naïr and the guidance of rehearsal director Gaurav Bhatti ensure that every gesture is deliberate, measured, and emotionally precise.

For Mangaldas, ‘Mehek’ is her first duet in a storied career; for Odedra, it deepens his exploration into the meeting of tradition and the present. Together, Mangaldas and Odedra allow a love story often left unseen to bloom with clarity, dignity, and restraint, leaving an emotional fragrance, as suggested by the title—‘Mehek’.

Mehek is created by Aakash Odedra Company and Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company – The Drishtikon Dance Foundation, co-produced by The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi, and co-commissioned by Sadler’s Wells, The Lowry (Salford), Birmingham Hippodrome, and the Bagri Foundation.

Content Warning: The performance includes flashing or strobe lighting and loud sounds.

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