Mayuri Upadya brings her broadway experience on Bangalore stage

Mayuri Upadya says that the essence of devotion in their production is photo credit: Special arrangement

History shows that Indian classical music and spirituality run by hand. While Purdaradas, Jaydev and Tulsidas are known for the devotional movement, classical dancers and singers are also more spiritually connected to their art. In fact, devotion is the major raas of most concerts and dance performances. , The new work of classical-soul-maker dancer-choreographer Mayuri Upadya is no exception. Title ‘Bhakti – Ek Shared Lges’, it features verses by Purandara, Akkmahadevi, Kabir, Lal Dead, Tukram, Andal, Tulsidas, Mirbai, Namdev, Sadashiva Brahindral, Guru Nanak, Basavanna and Rabindranath Tagore. His organization should be presented by Nritaruta, which he established in 2000 with his sister Madhui Upadya, ‘Devotion… ‘will be premiered in Bangalore on June 13.

Mayuri describes the production “as a multilingual, multi-disciplinary immersive dance-theater presentation, which weaves the intimate heritage of 13 Indian saints and mystics from all over India together. Production includes texts, dialogues and various Indian languages.”

She also says that dance, for her, is just more than movement – it is a language, a way to communicate with the world that crosses the boundaries of words. “

10 dancers across the country bring their own divers and culture into production. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

One of his most notable works is Broadway music Mughal-e-AzamIt is inspired by the film of this name, which has 300 shows worldwide. Mayuri, recipient of Best Original Choreographer Award (2018) for Broadway World Mughal-e-Azam, Bangalore returns to stage with Devotion … After 14 years of interval. He has also worked as a lead choreographer Great Indian Music: Civilization for the nation. The show shares Mayuri, now in its third season, in its third season, Lincoln Center, New York.

“My last show in Bengaluru was in 2014, which is why I was craving on stage Devotion… Here. It is the exploration of the word ‘devotion’ and human spiritual discovery. It is anchor in today’s time, despite age, gender and religion, ”says Mayuri.

Regarding the actions of poets and mysticists, which they have used for their production, say: “They are more saints for me only than poets because I believe they discovered a deep internal truth, which they revealed/shared with humanity. The more I read about them and their actions, the more I found equality in their concepts.”

The tone of minimalism is Bhakti – A shared craving
Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

In each piece Devotion Each mystic explained by various dancers focuses around a developed work. There are 10 dancers related to various styles from across the country in production.

Explaining the process of bringing production into life, Mayuri says, “Researchers (Pooja Kaushik and Nandana Gopal) brought different aspects to the table, each with their own versions of stories that were well corrected. This post was the process of selection of songs. The next lessons were to add movements.

For the creative process, Mayuri, who was included in the dance by Madhuri, shared: “Kavita said what the language of the movement should be. For example, for the poem of Bengal, for the poem of Bengal, we took inspiration from Uday Shankar’s dance style, which is for Amir Khusro.

Every aspect in production has a contemporary and minimum approach. “It is my simple but powerful response to whatever is happening around me,” says Mayuri.

‘Bhakti – Ek Shallasa Liusa’ will premiere at 7.30 pm on June 13 at the Chaudhiya Memorial Hall in Bangalore.