BODY SPACE TIME CONVERSATION SERIES | MAYA RAO

The Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art and Gati Dance Forum invite you to a conversation with performer and activist Maya Krishna Rao as part of the Body Space Time Conversation Series on March 15, 2018 at the FICA Reading Room.

The Body Space Time Conversations series invites a range of practitioners into the studio, engaging them in a conversation about performance and its intersection with other disciplines. The conversation series is part of BODY SPACE TIME, an ongoing 4-month certificate course in dance technique and choreography, running from Jan - May 2018 at Gati Dance Forum.The conversation series populates a context for the participants of the Body Space Time course, allowing them to engage with creative processes through their own practice and a wider dialogue. It also creates a space for practitioners to share their practice with the larger public, triggering a critical discourse that links various methodologies and forms.

On its third week, the series featured Maya Krishna Rao.a Delhi-based actor, director, writer, and educator, who, starting from her training in Kathakali, ventured into innovative theatre practice. She covered a range of performances from her early body of work and spoke at length about creative triggers in performance making, and the process of examining one's own work with a critical eye. 

Some of Maya's acclaimed works are The Job, A Deep Fried Jam, Ravanama, and Wallk, among others. Through her use of humour in theatre, she has also offered cutting insights into social structures and human nature. Maya taught theatre at the NSD for several years. She has worked extensively in the theatre-in-education space.  As a member of NCERT's National Curriculum Framework Committee, she drafted a drama syllabus for Classes I to XII. She has also formulated the Drama syllabus for B.El.Ed (Bachelor in Elementary Education), Delhi University, 2008. Recently, Maya worked to design an applied theatre programme at Shiv Nadar University.