The British Council Australia is proud to be supporting the Australian tour of Little Murmur, an innovative dance performance by the acclaimed Aakash Odedra Company. This captivating show, which explores the experience of dyslexia through dance, technology, and visual design, will be touring major cities across Australia in August and September. The tour schedule also includes tailored performances for schools, featuring a host of engaging post-show Q&A sessions with the artists.

Little Murmur is a solo piece choreographed by international award-winning dancer and choreographer Aakash Odedra. Diagnosed with dyslexia at a young age, Aakash Odedra found school very challenging: he spelt his name wrongly until he was 21 and it wasn’t until he “found the missing ‘A’” that he felt he belonged. Defined by his learning difficulties, not his abilities, dance became his mode of expression. Combining visual design and technology with dance and humour, Little Murmur explores the warped and exaggerated realities of living in a world you struggle to process. Based on Aakash’s hugely moving show Murmur 2.0, this stunning visual treat is an honest and heart felt conversation about the trials and tribulations of living with dyslexia, facing challenges and overcoming the odds.

The British Council's support of Little Murmur's Australian tour continues our mission to introduce Australian audiences to cutting-edge British performance art while shedding light on neurodiversity and learning differences and encouraging young people to embrace performance and artistic expression. British Council Australia also supported Aakash Odedra’s Samsara at the Arts Centre Melbourne in 2020.

Little Murmur was originally commissioned by The Spark Arts for Children in the UK. The show features visual technologies developed by Ars Electronica Futurelab (Linz, Austria). Aakash Odedra Company worked with The British Dyslexia Association in the creation of Little Murmur.

Tour Details

25 July – 5 August

Arts Centre Melbourne

9 August – 10 August

Sydney Opera House

17 August – 18 August

Darwin Festival

21 August – 24 August

Adelaide Festival Centre

The 40-minute performance is suitable for audiences aged 7 and above, making it an ideal experience for families, schools, and dance enthusiasts of all ages.

About Aakash Odedra

Aakash Odedra was born in Birmingham, UK and lives in Leicester. He is a globally recognised and award-winning dancer and choreographer. He trained in bharatanatyam and kathak, then moved to India as a student of the renowned Bollywood choreographer Shiamak Davar. Aakash Odedra’s work forms the heart of the company and as a soloist he has performed over 300 full length performances in 40 countries in the past decade. His choreography pushes boundaries, responding to and drawing inspiration from contemporary issues. As a British-Asian, Aakash Odedra uses his voice to translate ancient and contemporary movement languages to tell new stories.

Awards include the Amnesty International Award for Freedom of Expression; Best Dance at the Eastern Eye ACTA Awards 2018; a nomination for Best Stage Production at the 2019 Asian Media Awards for #JeSuis; and in 2021, Aakash was a awarded a British Empire Medal in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours for his services to dance. Notable commissions include James Brown: Get on the Good Foot (Apollo Theater, NY). In 2017 Aakash choreographed the Royal Opera House production Sukanya composed by the late great Pt Ravi Shankar and was movement director for Curve Theatre’s Pink Sari Revolution. As a solo performer his awards include: Danza&Danza award (Italy); Dora performance award (Canada); Audience Award Dance Week (Croatia); Infant Award (Serbia); Bessie Award New York (Best Male Performer); and a Sky Academy Arts Scholarship

About Aakash Odedra Company

Based in Leicester, Aakash Odedra Company exists to deliver exceptional creative experiences for audiences and participants and to help create a society that is happier and healthier through dance and the arts. The company strives to ensure that their dance work reflects excellence, removes barriers to access excellent dance and art, and makes art and dance education opportunities more widely available. Their mission is to create dance works through a synthesis of kathak, bharatanatyam, contemporary and Bollywood-jazz which push boundaries, responding to and drawing inspiration from contemporary issues. Bilingual in classical and contemporary dance, they use the voice of British-Asian experience to translate ancient and contemporary movement languages to tell new stories relevant to today. The company's location within Leicester's international communities has allowed them to be more aware of, and pro-active about, the opportunities of plural heritage and the importance of a culture of accessibility, social justice, messaging and making people feel welcome. Aakash Odedra Company is an Associate Company at Curve Leicester and Birmingham Hippodrome, and is a National Partner Organisation of Sadler's Wells and one of Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations.

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