Internationally acclaimed bharatanatyam artiste Mythili Prakash is looking forward to performing at the Esplanade with her new, bold and evocative musical work She’s Auspicious, which questions the contradictions and dichotomies of how women are viewed in society.
“I’m very excited,” she told tabla! from her Los Angeles base. “It has been a long gap (12 years) since I performed in Singapore. A lot has changed, and I look forward to sharing this new piece with my Singapore audience.”
In the 65-minute performance, which will be staged at the Singtel Waterfront Theatre on Aug 10 and 11, the second-generation American performer will examine the irony in her Indian culture between the worship of (goddess) Devi as a symbol of femininity and auspiciousness and the treatment of women in modern society.
The idea for it was sparked by a previous work she created based on lyrics in a poem about women and the paradoxical roles they are often expected to play in society – such as mother and daughter, fierce and gentle.
“There are many sparks for this creation,” the 42-year-old said. “One starting point was my identity as a woman, a mother, a performer and a practitioner of bharatanatyam. The way I perform these roles – how much of it is conditioned by the expectations of society? How much of it is what actually comes authentically from me? Is there a tension between the two?”
Mythili is known to be incisive in her approach, questioning cultural and social norms, while pushing the boundaries of bharatanatyam, particularly around femininity and aesthetics.
Her creative introspections acknowledge and draw fodder from her experiences as a mother, a first-generation child of immigrants and the complexity of her identity as a dancer of caste-privilege in India, while simultaneously a female artiste-of-colour in the US.
The American, who has emerged at the forefront of a new generation of classical Indian dancers, conceptualised and choreographed the solo performance, which features a rare all-female music ensemble – Subiksha Rangarajan (vocal), Aswini Srinivasan (percussion) and Ananya Ashok (vocal and veena).
“I love Indian mythology. For me it goes hand in hand with the dance, and has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember,” said Mythili, who was cast as the wife of the titular character in the award-winning film Life of Pi.
“A myth that has prompted a lot of reflection in this piece is the making of Devi by the male gods to kill the demon Mahisha. Our myths hold the values of society, and as we move through time, some of those values stay and some of them change. Some of the ones that stay need to change. Or the way we tell the stories need to change.
“I believe there is no ‘correct way’ to tell the story. I think mythology is a great way to reflect on ourselves as individuals and a society. They are the stories that we hand down through art to our children and future generations of artistes.”
Mentored by the iconic Malavika Sarukkai and the esteemed Akram Khan, whose dance company she has been performing with since 2019, Mythili’s She’s Auspicious is essentially about femininity – the way it is perceived, embodied, performed and scrutinised.
“As women, each of us brings our personal experience and energy into the piece,” she said. “For me, it challenges expectations and perspectives that I’ve grown up believing and holding myself, both as a human, as a woman and as a bharatanatyam dancer.
“Believing in specific notions of ‘beauty’ or ‘motherhood’ or ‘perfection’ – so much of this is engrained, and when you start picking at one part of it, everything starts to unravel and comes undone. This has been my experience in working on the piece as well as living my life.”
She’s Auspicious first premiered in 2021 at the Reflektor Festival in Hamburg, Germany, and underwent further development in 2022 at Pillow’s Lab at the historic Jacob’s Pillow dance centre, and in 2024 at University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Mythili is currently touring with her latest production across the US, Asia and the UK.
