Aakash Odedra Company Works With 450 Elders On A Major New Project, Mehek Live

Over 450 older people in Leicester take part in a major learning and participation arts project with Aakash Odedra Company

Mehek Live: Workshops run from 26 September to April 2024

The participants’ life stories will form part of the new dance work from the company

Aakash Odedra Company has been awarded a Nationally Significant Project Grant from Arts Council England for a major new learning and participation project, Mehek Live. It is the first such grant awarded in the Midlands since before Covid.  

Beginning on 26 September, the Leicester-based dance company will be working with over 450 people in elder communities across the region. The ten organisations taking part range from residential care homes, community groups and older people’s dance groups. They include Asra House Residential Care Home, Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre, Dance and Diabetes group, Heartwell House Residential Care Home and Moving Together Senior Company.

The first two weeks of workshops will be led by the company’s artistic director Aakash Odedra working with dramaturg Karthika Nair and musician Hiren Chate. This will be an opportunity for the participants to tell their personal stories and talk about their experience of life and love. Some of these stories will be incorporated into Mehek, a new live work from the company which premieres at New York University Abu Dhabi on 7 February 2024. There are plans for everyone involved in the project to come together to watch a celebratory live-stream of the premiere.

From October onwards, Aakash Odedra Company’s learning and participation team will take over the workshops. Until April 2024 they will run a series of age-appropriate physical sessions where the participants will cultivate new skills and experience the mental and physical well-being benefits of social interaction, exercise and dance.