Taking dance to a different platform
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Live art: From Umeshi’s “Deconstruct the embody” exhibition at the Lionel Wendt in 2017. Pic by Malaka Premasiri and (right), pic by Ihithi Fahim
Co-founder and Artistic Director of MeshGround, Umeshi Rajeendra has learned from and worked with distinguished contemporary dance artists from across the globe, wowing audiences with her strength, grace and athleticism. Despite the challenging situation in the country, the dance platform continues its journey of innovation welcoming teachers from around the world and recently held the first ever Gaga class in Sri Lanka with Polish choreographer and Gaga teacher Gosia Mielech, Founder of Dance Lab, Poland.
The idea was to introduce the different ways we can think about engaging our embodied knowledge through movement, Umeshi says.
An athlete in school and university, Umeshi received her BA in Dance and Economics from Denison University, and her MFA in Dance at University of Arts, USA. She founded the Mesh Academy of Dance in 2015 and relaunched it recently as MeshGround with a group of like-minded artists/practitioners: Eva Priyanka Wegener, Ayumi Fernando, Hope Rajasinghe, Shonaka Ranatunga, along with team members, Daham Anurada, Onara de Silva and Bhagya Virajini.
Umeshi is also a visiting lecturer at the University of Peradeniya, and dance educator at Asian International School.
In this interview Umeshi spoke of what lies ahead for MeshGround.
A study in movement: Pic by Alice Carfrae
Our vision for MeshGround is to be a leading example of a collaborative platform for dance education and artistic development in South Asia, where experimentation, research and life-long learning are both valued and encouraged. We are dedicated to not only the practice of discipline-based training through a creative and healing process, but also, and most importantly, to work and collaborate across traditional boundaries, and to nurture and uncover alternate discourses, experimentation, and individual research to stimulate creative and independent dance/movement thinkers.
Given the current crisis, we are limiting our classes to Play Technique Pathways (also conducted on zoom) as well as Play Research; once a month workshops to expand the way our students think, access, and create through experimentation. We hope to start our other projects, like the Emerging Artist Residency programme for aspiring artists.
The process. I love diving into the unknown, not knowing where I am moving towards, allowing the process and research to orient me towards a direction with some kind of logic and sense. It’s just raw and beautiful to be in that space and time. Truly a privilege, and one that I am extremely grateful for.
Q: If you were to produce a show today, what would the central theme be?
My artistic and academic work, from the very beginning, has been one of belonging and of ‘otherliness’, a presence and erasure, and of searching, exploring, reclaiming, and proposing a new. So, most likely, the central themes would be of resistance, disorientation, homeland, and ideas of self.
We are learning as we go. We’ve had to reimagine/reframe, adapt to digital modes of engagement when and where possible. Whether it is researching various arrangements through zoom or undertaking more individualized and personal sessions in outdoor spaces or online, we’ve tried our best to offer a multitude of encounters to keep folks moving. And most importantly, we’ve tried to be conscious of what the students and teachers are going through, and research alternatives.
A lack of investment in the mental health of children and adults during times like this only furthers their distance from encounters. So, unless the political system changes to be conducive towards the wellbeing of the population in terms of education, health, and technology, it is going to be tough for any teacher/parent/leader/facilitator.
We will embark on a course in performance therapy via a dance performance programme – an interdisciplinary initiative focusing on supporting students as performers and devisors/choreographers to help them rethink their relationship to their practice, and develop new processes and skills. The programme will be conducted by us, with the support of an international dance therapist and movement educator, and we are very excited about this partnership and the amazing opportunities it will offer local dancers and choreographers.
Fingers crossed; we will be running at full capacity with all our projects!
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