‘Even in your childhood, there are ways to be brave’

When director Yuki Ellias was auditioning dancers for Yatagarasu , a devised piece set in a school classroom, she randomly asked one of them, Jimit Thakkar, to imagine he was dyslexic, and explore words and spellings through movement. “He started laughing and said he is dyslexic,” Ellias says, “It was a beautiful moment.”

Yatagarasu uses dance, theatre and a ton of playfulness to explore issues that kids struggle with, like bullying and body image issues, subjects that hit home with the participants themselves.

“I knew I wanted a big girl,” Ellias says, and when Anjanna Bapat auditioned with a belly dance, Ellias was delighted. “The one thing I wanted girls to take home is that you can be of any dimension, it doesn’t matter, but you can dance, you can be fit, you can be gorgeous and confident,” Ellias says, “And Anjana was all of that.” The play, written by Ellias and Nikhil Katara, has had two shows in Mumbai, both warmly received. “Why the show works for people is that they’re not just acting out their stories, they’re in some way sharing their own experiences,” Ellias says.

The actor-director has racked serious achievements under her belt, including being movement director for Tim Supple’s opera

The Magic Flute , and devising the pedagogy at The Drama School Mumbai. As an actor, Ellias has toured internationally with Supple’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream , and co-written and acted in her father Rafeeq Ellias’ film Love You To Death . In an interview with MetroPlus , she spoke about the energetic, hilarious Yatagarasu , coming to The Hindu MetroPlus Theatre Festival 2016 .

How did Yatagarasu come about?

I wanted to make stories about what growing up in school meant. I wanted to have stories that kids can see and know that it’s going to be all right, and even in your childhood, there are ways to be brave, to use your wisdom, to be caring towards people. It’s about relationships between students but also relationships between children and their parents, and how they all overcome everyday challenges. I wanted to make a show for a bigger audience — children, parents, families and friends of all ages — so we can all go to the theatre together for a change.

What are some of the challenges?

I wanted to talk about bullying and learning disabilities — back then, it wasn’t diagnosed as much — and about not knowing what to do with your emotions as a kid. The idea of being so successful that a kid who is an athlete, who’s had an accident, may feel like it’s the end of the world, that there’s nothing more to discover. I wanted to do something about body shaming and what happens in schools for the kid who is fat or who wants to be extra skinny. When I did the auditions, each of the dancers I wanted to work with had similar stories. A lot of the scenes and what they say is from real life.

Tell us about the staging.

It’s theatre but through a lot of movement and dance, and it’s a comedy. It is the third play that I am directing, and I wanted to work with dancers. We called choreographers — Abhishek Das from a hip hop group, contemporary dancer Erin Pereira, hip hop dancer Paras Sharma — for some of the pieces, but most of it has been created by the company of dancers. Most have training in contemporary dance, many have gone through training in Kathak and Bharatanatya, and you’ll see all the elements in the show. Our music director is Sagar Desai, who has done the scoring for Rajat Kapoor’s Ankhon Dekhi .

We have an amazing song by Assamese pop singer Joi Barua. Hip hop and rap artiste Blaaze sings the title track. Viveick Rajagopalan, an unbelievable percussionist, and Manjunath from Bengaluru have a track called ‘Say it with Me’. I’ve used Viveick and Ankur Tewari’s track ‘Sabse Peeche Hum Khade’ for the dyslexic boy.

Is the play named for the Japanese symbol of a crow with three legs?

A bird is a nice symbol of flight, and I came across a Japanese mythical bird called Yatagarasu; the three legs symbolise courage, wisdom and compassion. The story is a metaphor for saying “There’s a you inside you that you never knew,” and it’s about time!

(The play will be staged on Sept 6 at Ranga Shankara, J.P. Nagar at 3.30 p.m. and 7.30 p.m.

For tickets go to hehindu.com/tickets2016)

The Hindu Theatre Fest 2016

The Title Sponsor of the event is YES BANK. The Associate Sponsor is Telangana Tourism. The Merchandise partner is Focus Art Gallery. The Mobility Partner is Ola. The Gift partner is Terra Earthfood and the Event manager is evam.