Aakash Odedra Company presents Odedra’s first company work, #JeSuis at The VenueMK for the Mótus Dance Festival.
The powerful and political piece for seven Turkish dancers was the winner of the 2017 Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award - and you have an opportunity to view it at TheVenueMK on May 13.
Choreographer and performer Aakash Odedra has created a powerful physical exploration of oppression in all its guises, layers and contexts.
The piece has been several years in the making. Odedra first met the dancers in 2012 when he taught a workshop in Istanbul – and it was their collective responses to the widespread misinterpretations of their country which inspired him to create the piece.
Wrapped up in ideas around displacement, refuge and instability, #JeSuis portrays the frustrations of lives lived in conflict, a homeland that no longer knows the meaning of ‘home’, living somewhere where freedoms and choices are a luxury and the main hope is to stay safe.
#JeSuis also looks at the role of the media in dictating the stories we see.
While #JeSuisCharlie brought solidarity and comfort to a world grieving the horrific attacks in Paris in 2015, other equally appalling attacks took place in Kabul and Istanbul but failed to capture the attention in quite the same way.
#JeSuis acknowledges that some acts of oppression are more loudly heard and deeply felt than others.
Naomi McAuliffe, Amnesty International's Scotland Programme Director, said of the piece: “#JeSuis is a powerful wake-up call to everyone on the climate of violence and oppression that people in Turkey are currently enduring.
"To see attacks on freedom of expression portrayed through the medium of dance was incredibly powerful and accessible.... A production addressing freedom of expression in Turkey is particularly resonant for us as an organisation as our colleagues from Amnesty International Turkey are currently languishing in jail.”
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