[ad_1]
Choreographer, dancer and movement director Yusha Jay is currently at the ongoing 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK, performing the traditional dance of Tamil Nadu Kutu and her current signature #HybridBharatham choreography. If Jay’s name doesn’t ring a bell, her shows certainly will. Her now viral Instagram video of her dancing with Lil Wayne is impossible to miss A riot Dressed in a checkered green Kalakshetra saree – bringing hip-hop and Bharatanatyam together in her unique rendition – At the time of writing this feature, it had nearly 5 million views. Such is her popularity that she is now performing an extended version of this tune at a 10-day sports event for the world to see.
When I caught up with Jay at Zoom a few weeks ago, she was back in her hometown of Paris after a whirlwind European tour with British rapper MIA and was getting ready to head to England. My first question was to decode her #HybridBharatham choreography that made her the internet’s darling dancing queen. How did the idea of combining Indian classical with street style dance come about? “In 2019, I came up with the music as an experiment for myself,” says Jay, who has worked with fashion brands such as Off-White, Rami Khadi and Ashi Studio in motion direction and choreography. “People say I mix the two dances, but I don’t. Bharatanatyam adavus each has a specific sense. I’m not mixing this with hip-hop activities. I consciously switch from one dance to another while fully respecting each of us,” she says.
As a first-generation French-Tamilian, the dancer grew up straddling two cultures, and the musical is simply a collision of her worlds, both of which she knows wholeheartedly. Jay began learning hip-hop dance ten years ago to keep a friend company. She didn’t expect to find her groove in the process. The opportunity to study Bharatanatyam in the French capital took some hunting. “I always wanted to study but I couldn’t find the right place in Paris. Bharatnatyam is seen as a dance form that you have to learn at a young age, but I only started when I was 20. I was doing this to myself and had nothing to prove. So, I don’t mind being the only adult in a room full of babies!”
Jay says Tamil music and movies have always been part of her family’s routine at home. She spent ten years learning her mother tongue. She looked at dance as another way to stay connected to her Tamil roots. Did she treat the princely aspect of the process with equal respect? “I grew up imitating values from Tamil culture. So I don’t see the saree as just a garment. It is the heritage of my race, the thread that binds me to my land,” says the choreographer. “Often people talk about the sari as a representation of femininity. I don’t see it the same way because a woman can be represented in many ways. More than an eloquent relationship, the sari allows me to represent my culture everywhere I go, like I wore it on French national television. I can say where I’m from without trying to look like someone else. It enables me.
[ad_2]
Source link
