Message from our Artistic Director
From roots to horizons: A year of growth
“This year began with Songs of the Bulbul travelling from Leicester to Abu Dhabi, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, and across the UK, reaching over 11,200 audience members through the year. At The Lowry, Manchester Camerata joined us live on stage in 2025, the kind of undertaking that tests a production and rewards an audience.
Little Murmur played Washington and Hong Kong, reaching over 1400 audience members, many of them children and young people. It tells the story of a boy who could not spell his own name; I was that boy until I was twenty-one. The show now plays in cities I would have misspelt. If one child leaves the theatre having decided their mind is an instrument rather than a fault, the tour has done its work.
This year also brought recognition. We received two National Dance Awards: the National Dance Critics’ Circle Award for Outstanding Male Classical Performance and the National Dance Award for Best Male Dancer, the latter shared with Tommy Franzén. The Eastern Eye Award recognised for Dance. I am grateful for them, and for the people whose work they represent.
In March, Her Royal Highness Catherine, The Princess of Wales visited us in Belgrave. I made her garland myself, red roses and pearls. She watched Songs of the Bulbul in a neighbourhood centre that, not long ago, was being discussed in the language of closure. A building once uncertain of its future held a princess and a bulbul in the same morning. And when the music ended, the room forgot itself in silence, until a voice said, “You can clap now.” Laughter broke over all of us, Her Royal Highness too. I offer that morning to anyone who asks what culture does for a place.
At home, the studios have never been busier. Our over-50s programmes grew again, and the Men’s Club we announced last year is now running. ROOTS gathered young dancers for a week at the Birmingham Hippodrome, on ancestry, taught by seniors of the form: the correct direction for knowledge to travel.
We also continued to invest in work before it reaches the stage. Little Journey entered a period of research and development, giving us space to explore, question and shape what the work might become. None of this tours. All of it is what touring stands on.
And beneath everything, quietly: PAVAN, the dream I have carried longest, moved forward this year. We look forward to sharing it with the world when the time is right.
Thank you to everyone who was part of this year’s work, on stage and off. We look forward to welcoming you again in the year ahead.”
Aakash Odedra | Artistic Director
