Dance Film "FIGHT FLIGHT"
A. Please briefly introduce yourself and your dance film.
My name is Mayuri Upadhya, and I am a creative entrepreneur in the bustling dance and performance industry of India. As a dreamer, I inspire myself and the world around me through storytelling, healing, and most of all, dance.
Currently, I am the co-founder and Artistic Director of premier Indian dance company, Nritarutya.
My dance film FIGHT FLIGHT is a figment of my imagination and a learning outcome of a screen dance study program.
I believe our bodies are primary instruments inferring, absorbing, and transmitting from the mind’s eye. We perceive from the world outside and set limitations within. Bound by chains to the world, our surroundings, circumstances, and even to ourselves, we thrive in constant fear. To break these shackles within, is to find freedom. A state of mind!
My hope is for each of us to find wind beneath our wings.
B. How did your participation in the CPI Cultural training program affect/aid in the outcome of your project?
The CPI program helped me see dance in its latest avatar. Expanding, Sleek and powerful. It gave a comprehensive understanding of approaching what I already know, from a different perspective. The program surely was designed to empower it’s participants with knowledge, information and the latest know-how on technology. It also built a web of networks, creating interconnections between people, places and ideas. I’m grateful I got to be part of the program.
C. Are you currently working on any dance/cultural related projects? If so, would you be able to briefly introduce your current project? If not, do you have any plans to do so?
I find my voice as an artist and storyteller by making work that is intuitive to me and relevant to the world. My inspiration comes from the lessons of life and dance is my emotional response to it.
My next project “Postcards of Time” is a performance art piece that will be curated in the form of stills and videos for online media. I explore the cyclic nature of time, and the restoration of balance in nature through dance and mythology. The project through short video formats reflects on the interconnectedness of the past, present, and future. One is left wondering what it means that we repeat and relive old patterns. Most of all, we receive messages about the impact of our actions, our presence on this planet, and the stories we choose to leave behind.
D. Going forward, how do you plan on promoting Indian culture?
Growing up in India has given me front row seats to a colourful melting cultural hot pot, one that has inspired in me the ability to think in texture, textile, drama, music, and colour. Using these inspirations, going forward, my wish is to articulate visual interpretations on a digital stage with cultural sensitivity. Screen dance, festival collaborations and musicals are in the making.
As a mentor and teacher, I hope to create more thinkers, dreamers, and doers from India that change the narrative of Global Performance Art.
About Mayuri Upadhya
Mayuri Upadhya is a 2021 CPI Participant of Capacity Building for Digitalization of Performing Arts in India. She is the co-founder and currently the Artistic Director of premier Indian dance company, Nritarutya. During her two decades long journey, her work is widely considered to be a beautifully balanced mix of visual interpretations and cultural sensitivity.
