Know what Maddhu Natraj learned from Gujarat

Dear friends, choreographer Maddhu Natraj of STEM Dance Kampani and Vadodara-based Cognito’s Harsh Purohit bonded over the weekend. After a concept-based performance on spaces, the friends flew kites on a terrace. “I’ve never seen something like that. At night, they let out lakhs of lit lanterns. It was magical,” says Natraj.
From bonding during an educative tour of Champaner to relishing a ‘sandwich and juice’ lunch by the roadside, being precariously perched on a small terrace while watching lakhs of floating lanterns with a ‘bottega brunello di montalcino’ for company and intellectualising about the difference between ‘dhebra’ and ‘thepla’, the friends caught up on a lot.
Natraj says she loves Gujarat, particularly because it is culturally inclined. On their visit to Champaner, they had a veteran guide showing them around. Natraj, being a huge fan of architecture and art history, enjoyed this. She wishes Karnataka had good guides who knew their heritage as well. Natraj also conducted a creativity unplugged workshop for the Cognito team during her three-day stay.