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What’s so good about balance? Dr Anindya Raychaudhuri investigates different notions of 'balance' to consider why we prize it so highly.

Anindya suffers from Meniere’s Disease, a condition with symptoms including sudden dizziness and vertigo. His experiences have led him to think about the role balance plays in our lives, both physical and metaphorical.

In this documentary he explores the vertiginous city of Edinburgh to seek different perspectives on balance - navigating science, the arts and philosophy and the work of Edgar Allan Poe, Bridget Riley and Erasmus Darwin, amongst others, as well as vertigo sufferers Anindya has met in his studies.

His journey begins at Camera Obscura, Edinburgh's longest running tourist attraction. He'll attempt to pass through the Vortex Tunnel, a spinning tube of light and sound, designed to disorientate and make those who walk through it feel upside down. Andrew Johnson from Camera Obscura offers his view on why we seek out opportunities to get dizzy for pleasure.

Wandering through Edinburgh's sheer cliffs, stairwayed closes and tall spires, Anindya seeks out Dill Hurwitz, balance physiotherapist, to find out what's going on in our bodies when we lose our balance and how it shapes our experience of the world.

Contributors: Andrew Johnson, general manager of Camera Obscura; Dill Hurwitz, balance physiotherapist and research participants Sean, Louise and Marisa.

Presented by New Generation Thinker Dr Anindya Raychaudhuri (University of St Andrews)
Produced by Sam Peach
Readings by Hasan Dixon