Feminine-masculine, yin-yang, purush-parakriti, white-black – perhaps it is about identity. Perhaps it is about your body. And maybe, just maybe, it is about harmony and accepting the blurred lines between ‘this and that’.

NaraNari is Mayuri’s quest to unearth the genesis of it all, and the journey to the present.
It explores the beginning of existence, of awareness. Adept bodies and powerful physicality of the dancers’ coil and pulse, reminding us of a coiled serpent, one that started the creation of existence as we know it today. It reminds us of the interlinked and interfaced mind and body, duality. Of dependence and trust, of embracing and letting go. It reminds us of balance.

But it potently asks questions too. Could a balance be achieved between a man and a beast? Humans and aliens? Dominant females and submissive males? Because, while every union is tinged with shades of emotions, the rules of the games are defined by these emotions too. Maybe it is best we never know these answers. It is probable that the unknown is how opposites co-exist.

And while we ponder on this, the composition evolves into a phantasm of sculptures – traditional and classic. The bodies become metaphors for balance. Each practiced movement and deliberate posture explores a dialogue between bodies, minds, energies, and thoughts. It is a dialogue merging the past and the future while challenging the perception of the merge.

Whether we call it balance, gender role reversals, identity, or emotional intelligence, there is a fine line between it all. Is that the meeting point? Is it a union or a division, dissolving or definitive? And more importantly, is that enough?

Mayuri Upadhya on NaraNari: At my sanctum, @nritarutya, the design process started with an innate need to answer this question in the medium of dance. It took 45 sessions, 2 notebooks, 90 hours, two sore bodies, and a mad mind to create this piece.