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    When Walls Dance

    Performance

    2023performancebharata natyamanimationwarli

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    Venue

    Prithvi Theatre
    Mumbai

    Date and Time

    28 April 2026
    Tuesday

    When Walls Dance - Dancer in traditional costume performing
    When Walls Dance - Performance with animated wall projections
    When Walls Dance - Live performance with geometric projections
    When Walls Dance - Dancer with tree projection
    When Walls Dance - Dynamic dance movement with tree and patterns
    When Walls Dance - Performance with falling patterns
    When Walls Dance - Performer with traditional lion mask
    When Walls Dance - Dance with tribal projections
    When Walls Dance - Performer with lion mask and botanical projections

    In the News

    The HinduRead Here

    "An expressive confluence of dance, folk art and animation."

    Indian ExpressRead Here

    "Bharatanatyam danseuse Prachi Saathi performs a unique piece combining warli art and animation"

    Pune MirrorRead Here

    "When Walls Dance: A captivating fusion of dance and Warli art."

    When Walls Dance - Blue stage performance with tree projection

    The entire performance is
    composed of 8 sections.

    An Alarippu is the very first piece in a Bharata Natyam repertoire. It literally means blossoming. And just as a flower blossoms through this alarippu we see how a day unfolds or rather blossoms in the warli village.
    For the Warli tribe every joyous occasion calls for dance and music. One such occasion was the birth of Champa.
    A AA E EE is the first alphabet that a child learns when learning the Marathi language. The bond that Champa shares with her beloved tree is so special that she shares everything that happens in her life with her favourite tree.
    Whenever there is a wedding in the warli family the suvashinis or married women paint the Lagna Chauk, an auspicious painting which has great spiritual significance. It frames the Palghat devi who is the goddess of fertility and is invoked to bring good fortune to the newly wedded couple.
    As her sister leaves after getting married Champa momentarily feels lonely only to realise that her best friend-the Champa tree is by her side offering her the warmth through her cool shade.
    Bohada is a mask festival of the Warli tribes which is held for three days. It is celebrated with a display of individuals wearing 52 masks of Warli Gods and Goddesses. This is a celebration to invoke the rain gods to ensure a good crop in the season and to pay homage to village Gods and Goddesses, for creation and sustaining of life.
    This song depicts the joy, the celebration that comes with the arrival of rain. Clouds forming shapes and dancing peacocks flowing rivers swaying crops create an ambience full of life and Love and happiness.
    The finale piece is a Tillana which is traditionally the concluding piece in a Bharata Natyam repertoire. This piece is an ode to the Champa tree and also a celebration of the undying love that Champa shares with her beloved Champa tree. Tillana is an expression of joy and happiness. And as they exchange these emotions there comes a point where things take an unexpected turn.

    The Story

    A Jugalbandi of Artistic Practises

    The story revolves around the friendship and love between champa the lil tribal girl and her namesake tree. They grow together and their lives are intertwined in more ways than they realise. The bond that the girl shares with this tree is that of true selfless friendship which they promise each other, will last forever and ever.

    This production is an attempt to bring together two age-old art forms - the Indian classical dance form of Bharata Natyam and the tribal art of the indigenous Warli tribe - through scenography including motion design and projection. It is a jugalbandi of different artistic practices across different storytelling mediums to trigger urgent and important conversations about our relationship with ourselves and our surroundings.

    When Walls Dance - Warli art and traditional masks

    India is very diverse and the classical, folk and digital rarely interface. This project is a
    framework to co-create together.

    Most indigenous traditional art, craft and other performances often evolved from technologies, tools, or ways of life at a time where there was a strong symbiotic relationship between the artist and his or her environment.

    The challenge with the modern day artists is that most of their work often revolves around using digital tools that have been machined/designed/created in a way that their operation/usage and consequential output is instinctively disconnected from the natural environment.

    The hope of a project like When Walls Dance, is to try and imbibe the "more than human" approach to living on this planet which is intrinsic to most tribal and pre-modern ways of life.

    Upasana NR, the founder of Switch Studio speaking on the need for a project like When Walls Dance

    Most visuals created for music or dance performances are often created where the visuals projected onto large screens take center-stage during the performance. Visuals created for a classical or folk dance performance cannot be designed in the same fashion.

    The dancer is the sutradar. And design and tech supports the storytelling by building a world and providing support characters to tell that story. When Walls Dance is crafted to maintain this delicate balance.

    Throughout the performance, the dancer brings the story alive. The visuals can never steal the limelight from the dancer/performer.

    Our goal as a design studio is to demonstrate that it is possible to create visuals and use technology to engage wider audiences without losing the depth and soul of classical and folk performances.

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    Our aim for this project is to bring classical as well as folk forms of performance to wider audiences. By exploring newer means, we are able to understand and transfuse learnings from a traditional dance style like Bharatnatyam with a more immersive avatar thereby bringing a fresh energy catering to a modern audience.

    We also need to prove to classical dance teachers in India that hybrid performance with projections are not superfluous but create an immersive experience that can have depth and meaning without diluting the focus from the rigour and spiritual practice of the dance form.

    We hope to have the patronage and support from stalwarts in the art, design and performance worlds along with festivals and funding bodies to develop future concepts and productions.

    Team

    Concept, Choreography, Presentation Prachi Saathi / Scenography, Animation Upasana Nattoji Roy / Research and Art Advisor Rajendra Chaudhari / Concept, Choreography, Presentation Prachi Saathi / Scenography, Animation Upasana Nattoji Roy / Research and Art Advisor Rajendra Chaudhari / Concept, Choreography, Presentation Prachi Saathi / Scenography, Animation Upasana Nattoji Roy / Research and Art advisor Rajendra Chaudhari