There is more to Indian performing arts than Bollywood

There is more to Indian performing arts than Bollywood, says artistic director of new stage spectacular, MEERA

One Indian-Australian woman is on a mission to prove there is more to Indian performing arts than Bollywood.

Aarti Bajaj is the owner and artistic director of Wild Dreamer Productions, a ground-breaking Gold Coast (Queensland, Australia) based production house committed to pushing boundaries beyond the social norm.

Meera, the brainchild of Ms Bajaj, is the ambitious first offering from Wild Dreamer Productions.

The stage spectacular will play six shows at the ASB Waterfront Theatre in Auckland on the 31st May, 1st June and 2nd June, this year.

Meera made its debut and world premiere in spectacular fashion to a full house of 1,100 people at the Gold Coast's Home of the Arts in November, 2018.

A select few of the Australian cast and crew of more than 300 will tour with the production to Auckland, with auditions taking place in the City of Sails between 17-20 January, 2019.

“Meera is a bold love story from 16th century Northern India about a royal Princess who believes in her love for Krishna (a Hindu God) to such a degree that she is willing to go against the norms of society for her love,” said Ms Bajaj.

“This is a story of love, passion, betrayal and every emotion of human experience to make or break a person - Meera has it all.”

During the writing process Ms Bajaj altered the interpretation of Meera to fit the wider audience.

“I wanted to take all of the religious aspects out, and only focus on the pureness of love in the story.

“Love is common for every living being, we all can have different religions and beliefs, but we all have one common expression, and that is love.

“Everyone can recognise this theme when they walk into the auditorium, no matter where they come from, or what they believe.

Apart from creating Meera, the vision for Wild Dreamer Productions is to present multiple unsung or not very well known stories from around the world.

“My goal is to break different boundaries using globalisation and modernisation, to shine a light on different cultures and art forms,” said Ms Bajaj.

“There is so much more to Indian dance, it is not properly propagated or spread in the wider world. The Indian arts is more than just Bollywood. Being professionally trained with a degree in dance, I am really passionate to bring real colours out to the world.

“In Meera, there are eight dance forms; Indian classical, Indian contemporary, tap, jazz, ballet, African contemporary, aerial and pole. You will see pole in a different light in this production.

"We are also aiming to include Maori Haka in the New Zealand production."

In regards to other performing arts featured in Meera, there is drama, narration incorporating opera singing and 2D and 3D projection mapping.

“The music has been created from scratch from music composers from four different countries, using multiple genres,” said Ms Bajaj.

“Costumes and jewellery will be custom-made for the cast. It is about the true story of Meera, written by myself and scripted by two Western professional script writers on the Gold Coast to give a globally palatable feel to the production.”

Another major motivation for Ms Bajaj is to create a platform where she can give different artists the opportunity where they don’t need a profile to share their talent - if they have talent she intends to bring the platform to them.

"The primary vision and ethos of Wild Dreamer Productions is to bring local talent together wherever the production goes," said Ms Bajaj.

“My ultimate goal is for Meera to see all the beautiful stages and audiences across the globe, to sing out beautifully and loudly so everyone can get involved.”

Learn more about this exclusive production here:
Meera: Preview 2018 Gold Coast Production
Meera: Interview with Aarti Bajaj (Creative Director)
Wild Dreamer Productions Website
Meera: Facebook

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