This nimble-footed Bengaluru girl has the world dancing to her tune
Bengaluru: Bagging the BroadwayWorld India Awards 2017 for Best Original Choreography for Mughal-e-Azam, the musical that is leaving audiences awe-struck, is no mean achievement. And basking in the recognition, Mayuri Upadhyay, - born and brought up in Bengaluru, - can easily say today that she has the world dancing to her tunes.
While she was thrilled at receiving the Mughal-e-Azam project as the producers decided to go with a creative choice, opting for her in a different city over the vast options they had within the industry itself, she also realised the honour came with a huge responsibility to recreate a classic in a contemporary style and maintain the authenticity of the original.
“I knew I did not want to meddle with the sanctity and purity of the form as I believe that Indian dance and arts have an exclusive way of connecting with audiences through a soulful element,” she explains, adding, “For me, it either flows or I get completely stuck in the rough, there is no mid-way.”
Trained in bharatnatyam, power yoga, kathak, chaau and odissi, she believes that the various art forms are only the grammar of dance and there is no battle between them, “With increasing exposure, people are aware about what suits them, but what they don’t know is the professional scope attached to a dance or art form,” she notes.
Hoping that the dance industry will channelise the ample talent it has , she says there’s currently a vacuum which innovators need to fill. Mayuri is herself doing an interesting project called TFAI (Teaching for Art and Innovation) where she is trying to blend dance with education in collaboration with Sublime Foundation.
As for Bengaluru, she says the city has a lot to offer especially when it comes to art forms and various cultures and hopes she can be an example and inspiration to girls from the city.
People, she believes, must not submit to their mundane routines. “Art is a necessity, a creative relief required today much more than in the past . So to the artistes, I just want to say Sky is the Limit,” she smiles.
