Mayuri Upadhya
The Indian born (Born on Dec 30th 1979) Mayuri Upadhya is a Dancer, Choreographer, Artistic Director and founder of the Bengaluru-based Nritarutya Dance Trust, Entreprenuer, Reality TV show judge and Dance Educationist.
Career
Dancer & Principal choreographer
Mayuri’s descriptive, spatially demanding, thought provoking and uniquely heart-warming choreography has always won her varied audiences because of the ease with which she translates movement magic from the mind’s eye to the muscle and grace. Her signature productions Make in India, Madhur Milan, Katha Parva, Madhushala, Mangalyam, Mughal-e-Azam and works like Kaali (commissioned for the Royal family of Mysore Wadiyars) have received much critical and popular acclaim.
Her clientele ranges from Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Bollywood legend Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, Queen of England, to the Birlas and Ambanis, Her work reflects the India that is now – be it in the source of inspiration, the music or the movement vocabulary itself. What makes her choreography one of its kinds is its ability to capture India’s grandeur and spirit, taking its rich cultural heritage and reflecting it in her movement vocabulary.
Her choreographies are surreal with tastefully embellished costumes and rhythmic artistry. Inspired by her training in Bharatnatyam, Odissi, Kathak, Chaau, Kalaripayattu, Yoga and modern dance form techniques she has developed her signature style of presentation that integrates space, design, and bridges generation gaps. Her work in Bollywood projects and IP projects such as Nautanki, Nautch, Dhobi Ghat, The Chaaul Project etc showcase an array of thought provoking, traditional, contemporary and abstract pieces. She was also featured in the season 3 episode of The Dewarists in 2014 as a choreographer along with The Raghu Dixit Project, Shridhar Murthy and Harun Robert.
Artistic Director & Entrepreneur
She is the founder & Artistic Director of Nritarutya Dance Collective- One of India’s top contemporary dance companies. She founded the company in the year 2000. Empanelled with the ICCR - Indian Council for Cultural Relations, it has been rated by the yearbook of Indian dance – “AttenDance” - as among the best five dance companies in India. The company under her guidancde has also been rated as among the top 3 "dance makers in India" by the acclaimed magazine "India Today" 2015 annual edition.
Her entrepreneurial approach over the years has guided Nritarutya and its dancers to engage in systemic work, training, experimentation, performance and collaborations. In its 16 years of existence Nritarutya has been part of national, International festivals, Films, experimental corporate and non-corporate workshops, Small and large scale productions, Community and educational projects. Nritarutya also produces and supports new age artistic dance expressions. Their Projects include:
i. Prayog
In its format of short unconventional pieces has given local choreographers and dancers a forum for experimentation on various facets of dance making and performance. Nritarutya choreographic repertoire has played an important role in shaping the landscape of Contemporary Dance in India. The wisdom of Indian traditions with layers of interpretations hold relevance in modern times and Nritarutya's vision looks at bringing about innovation in tradition by making the ancient philosophies relevant in the present world through their artistic creations. They have received critical acclaim for work creating highly skilled, quirky, surreal, out-of-the-box choreographic works that are deep-rooted in philosophies and traditions of India.
Prayog-1 - August 2001, the pilot project was the collaborative effort of 14 artistes - live musicians, fashion designers and fine artists - to present six thematic choreographies.
Prayog-2 - August 2004, took their work to a larger audience With 10 performers scanning the stage space, this production was also earmarked with a release of a booklet on contemporary dance titled ‘Reflections’.
Prayog-3 - January 4, 2008, showcased a multi-media production with a massive team of 35 artistes - dancers, musicians, photographers, light designers, graphic artistes and installation artistes.
Prayog-4 - November 22, 2013, furthering on the creation of a unique, unconventional dance brand that would lead the Indian contemporary dance ethos into new directions. It featured three choreographies – “Matsyaangnaa”, and Trishanku” choreographed by Madhuri Upadhya and “Chakra” choreographed by Sathya BG.
ii. Adhyaya
Is a festival curated by the company to promote and present emerging and established performers both locally and internationally. The festival is not limited to any genre of performance and identifies and portrays exceptional talent from the rural village of India to the most recognized artists internationally.
Nritarutya has conceptualized and created over 50 unique productions and has worked with mixed media and a plethora of dance forms including contemporary, modern dance, Indian classical, Indian folk, and martial arts.
Mayuri has carved her niche in the business of the arts ensuring the sustenance of its ventures and nurturing young dancers with the ability to ensure that an initiative survives.
Reality TV show Judge
Mayuri is the Judge on reality TV show “Dancing Stars 2” along with actress Priyamani and actor V Ravichandran screened on ETV Kannada for the second year in a row. Produced by Viacom 18 the show is based on the BBC Worldwide format ‘Dancing with the Stars’. The show has been rated as one of the all-time hits in South Karnataka reality TV primetime television series.
Educationist
As an educationist Mayuri has been creating opportunities to train and showcase young and emerging talent in both the national and international arena. Mayuri is the Chief Program designer – Dance for TFAI (Teaching For Artistic Innovation), India, which is an initiative to enhance the teaching capabilities of the art teachers of Indian schools.
She is also the chief designer of Berserk which is unique creative conference for children between the age group of 8–14 years hosted in association with Art Bengaluru- South India’s biggest contemporary art festival. Berserk aims to enable a child’s creative and cognitive thinking capabilities from the grassroot level through education.
Awards
She has been recipient of Young Women’s Achievement Award (2004) and the honorary “Manav Ratna” award for her contribution in the field of Arts and Culture (2013). Other awards to her credit include:
Ø Uday Shankar Choreography award (2015)
Ø International Competition for choreography concept, Seoul, South Korea (2012)
Ø RAPA Best Choreographer Award for Television Commercials, Chennai (2005)
Ø Make in India, Best opening ceremony, Bronze medal
Ø Karnataka Tourism’s PATA, Best opening ceremony by WOW Asia awards- Silver medal
Mayuri Upadhya's work has been showcased in national and international dance festivals such as The Bermingham RAW Energy International dance Festival- 2010, Milap Festival London-2012, NH7 Music Festival 2014, India Now’ – Trafalgar Square Festival (London) 2007, The Soorya Festival(Trivandrum, Kerala) 2007,The Other Festival, Chennai- 2006, Kalagoda Art Festival (Mumbai) 2006, World Kannada Conference by AKKA (USA) 2006, Attakalari Bangalore Biennial International Festival of Movement Arts- 2004, Mysore Dasara Festival, Ninasam Shibira 2004 and Asian Arts Mart 2005, Singapore.
Projects
Ø Conceptualization and choreography for the inauguration of the “Make In India week 2016” event held in Mumbai, by the Honorable Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi
Ø Official choreographer for Mughal e Azam- a stage musical produced by the makers of the original film- Shapoorji Pallonji Producers, along with NCPA,2016
Ø Conceptualization and choreography of the “Make In India” event held at Hanover, Germany for the Honorable Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi (2015)
Ø Official choreographer for an upcoming Bollywood film directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (2015)
Ø Conceptualised and choreographed the production “Katha Parva” as a part of Lakshadeepotsava, Dharmasthala (2014)
Ø Conceptualised and choreographed the musical “Madhur Milan” on Smt. Kokilaben Ambani’s 80th birthday celebrations at her residence “Sea Wind” (2014)
Ø Choreography and presentation of a production on Mr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s poem ‘Madhushala’ by Legendary Actor, Mr.Amitabh Bachchan at B70 celebrations (2012)
Ø Commissioned to create a musical based on Kalidasa’s ‘Shakuntala’ starring Rani Mukherjee by The Vedanta Group
Ø Commissioned as the official choreographer of Yogaraj Bhat’s feature film- PANCHARANGI [Udisuve] (2010)
Ø Commissioned as the official choreographer for Padmashree M.S Sathyu’s cinema on Basavi (a category of Devadasi ) -IJJODDU (2009)
Ø Commissioned to Conceptualise and choreograph the launch of Suvarna channel’s mega reality show “Kannada Kotyadipathi” (2012)
Ø Dance direction for TV commercial “Manjal” with Rajiv Menon production house (2008)
Ø Commissioned to Conceptualise and choreograph an exclusive dance work on “Kaali” (2006) by the Royal family of Mysore Wadiyars
Ø Being commissioned on a regular basis to choreograph dance works for International Fashion Couture Designers such as - Abu Sandeep, Sabyasacchi Mukherjee, Anju Modi, Manish Malhotra, Manish Arora, Tarun Tahiliani, Wendell Rodricks and Hemanth Trivedi
Ø Commissioned to conduct a workshop for the Miss India 2003 and created a customised opening piece titled Stree Shakti