Although it doesn’t seem like it should work geographically, being based somewhat northeast of St Petersberg, Russia in the Russian Republic of Karelia, the Mayuri dance group globally represents Indian culture and dance. Since the group’s conception, it has consisted of hundreds of people including several generations of dancers.
The concept originated with one woman who is pictured above, Vera Evgrafova, who had a love of Indian culture, and especially Indian dance. As there was a slow but steady relaxation of government restrictions in the Soviet Union during the 80’s, Vera began her group (consisting of like-minded dancers) in 1987 in the Railway Workers Cultural center in Petrozavodsk, the capital of the aforementioned Republic of Karelia.
For those not familiar with the structure of the present Russian government, the republics of the Russian Federatioin act like states in this country. This republic is on the Finnish border so you have an idea of how far north it is. I should also add that Vera began the group while there was still a political entity called the Soviet Union but this changed in 1991 as the Soviet Union ceased to exist and the former country of Russia was reconstituted. I have attempted to use the correct political title as I describe events. (Ed Note: Below are some maps found by googling the internet)
Anyway, even without the lessening of restrictions, it could have been possible politically to start such a group then in the Soviet Union. Although the country was somewhat culturally isolated from much of the world at that time, India had always been a friend to the Russian people throughout the cold war period. Many of the Indian political leaders in the post World War II period were inclined to resist western influence. Much of this was a result of oppressive British pre World War II rule which in many cases the Indians felt was demeaning, perhaps belittling. Since England was a mainstay of the Post World War II western alliance, not unexpectedly Indian leaders looked for alternatives. So while cultural ties were strained with the west, exchanges of Indian culture was the norm in the Soviet Union at the time and perhaps this is what sparked Vera’s enthusiasm for Indian dance. However Vera establishes the group, her compatriots are hard workers exhibiting great enthusiasm. The history that you are reading now, that I have spent much time on researching, shows what can be done when your group has great skills, enthusiasm and vision.
I have also included below a history of the region during the World War II period, especially of Petrozavodsk. Much of the world has forgotten (and I never knew) that this city was directly affected by battle during World War II. Although this battle and campaign had small significance in the course of this war, I assume it affected the inhabitants in a negative way.
Anyway, in starting her group, Vera has the decision of what to call it. In 1985 there was a popular world-wide movie describing the life of Indian dancer Sudha Chandran who had lost a leg in a car accident but continued to contribute to the Indian culture of dance. This inspirational movie, Mayuri (aka Mayuri Nach), affected and touched all viewers as it documented Sudha’s struggles to regain the dancing aspect of her life. The name Mayuri is an Indian woman’s first name. While the movie documents Sudha’s life and struggles after her accident and she stars as the lead character in the movie, her character’s name in the movie for some reason was changed to Mayuri Olpam. The title derives from this first name and Vera appropriated this for the name of her group. Ed Note:Below are some pictures of Sudha Chandran in her role and as a speaker
In the beginning one assumes that Vera Evgrafova handled all aspects of administration, planning and performance. She had collected a library of books for many years on these subjects and these books were shared with the members of the group. The collection of books, which had to be translated from different languages, consisted of novels, stories, poems, travel notes, books on art, classical and folk dance, architecture, and painting. In addition Vera had collected this information on the various media available at the time – records, magnetic tape, cassettes and the like. As mentioned, this collection must have been in the various languages of India where variations of Hindi is the most predominant. Even before putting together dance routines, this must have been some project. It did have an added plus, however, as the pictures in this library of books allowed Vera’s group to study Indian dance costuming.
Probably as Vera starts to create the dance routines for her group she is only dealing with the classical Indian dance tradition - the South-Indian Bharat Natyam and the North Indian Kathak. While Mayuri would eventually add folk dancing and Bollywood type productions, I doubt if this was available in the late 1980’s. It appears that India’s film industry was a much more serious art form prior to what is now known as Bollywood. The dance routines of the 90’s Bollywood films would be used by the Mayuri group but it would be in the future.
From 1989 through 1995, Mayuri’s focus is on fortifying its local base. Throughout this period they performed throughout the Republic of Karelia demonstrating the dancers’ love of Indian dance and culture. Awards followed them. By 1995, Mayuri was awarded the title of “Narodniy” by the Karelian Ministry of Culture securing their place on a “state” wide level although the intervening years had seen them already become a major cultural influence in the city of Petrozavodsk and its surrounding area. Ed Note:the alternative spelling - Naradny - is apparently the generic term for high state awards in Russia perhaps similar to our Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Metal
This must have been a great time to be a part of culture throughout the country as the Soviet Union dissolved and was replaced by the new – which was the old – country of Russia. A great liberalization toward arts and foreign influences had also evolved and, no doubt, Mayuri benefited by this openness. It seems apparent, given the history above, that the group had become well-known in the Petrozavodsk area. Possibly this fame covered other areas of Russia at the same time. But, the next big thing to occur to the group is a result of an international presence. Apparently the Indian government, no doubt through the efforts of its embassy in Moscow, had become aware of the group. They offer fellowships to study dance in India and as a result, Elena Fiskovets and Natalia Fridman, two of the principal dancers of the group throughout the years, find themselves in India studying for a year at some prestigious dance institution(s) of India.
In any circumstances this would be a great honor – a foreign country considering your contributions to its culture so significant that they offer you a spot at one of their national institutes of dance. But, given the previous environment in Russia – almost an attempt to isolate its own people – this must have been considered even more significant at the time on the Russian side. Anyway, sometime between 1996 and 1997, Elena and Natalia find themselves in India taking advanced courses in dance. Given that you have been studying a culture from afar, both must have been elated to watch this culture from within and, no doubt, as I am finding as I accustom to the United States, this is a great way to enhance your language skills.
I should add that the Mayuri web site describes Elena and Natalia’s experience as studying at various dance institutions throughout India. While I would have no more information than what is mentioned on their web site, my study of dance institutions in India would indicate that the two must have spent some time at the National Institute of Kathak Dance. It’s also possible that the two spent some time at the Indira Kala Sangeet University which has facilities for international students.(Ed Note: Below are some screen shots of these two Univerities' web pages
Apparently through the training of these two principal dancers in India, a kind of hybrid style was formed. Mayuri continued to perform the traditional Indian dances to traditional Indian music but they started to experiment still using the traditional Indian dance genres but applying them to more modern music. Slowly, but with time, this fusion became more interesting and powerful. At the end of this script I have provided the editors of this web page with such a video example.
It is through this fusion that I have become interested in this dance group and their dancing and why I am doing this project. I had an instructor at Community College Of Philadelphia where I am an exchange student who showed me videos of this group dancing traditional Indian steps and in costume to modern pop music. I became interested in the group and with my interest in history I began researching their origins and travels and you are reading the result.
Of course, there was probably plenty of instruction in the traditional dances of the Indian culture that these two dancers studied that no doubt filtered down through the group. And the result can be seen in 1997 when the Mayuri group alternately performs folk dances intermixed with traditional Indian steps to pop music while also performing grand productions such as Bharat-Natyam (among its original names is Chinnamelan). This dance or perhaps form of Bharathanatyam is what westerners consider as the dance of India with amazing costumes and difficult poses (especially in terms of arms, hands and especially fingers) to difficult rhythms.
My research into the Mayuri group shows them also promoting Cultural Indian dances in the cold region of Karelia through teaching the art of performing these dances. The teaching has included choreography, teaching the Hindi language, lessons in the music of India, the playing of appropriate musical instruments, sewing and tailoring costumes for dance, the study of Indian mythology and culture, and translating Indian movies as well as Indian TV shows for the residents of Petrozavodsk and neighboring communities. It is said that the Mayuri dancers gave lectures to children, organized various fashion shows demonstrating a variety of Indian costumes, and ran slide show presentations for various charitable institutions.
Mayuri staged a large theatrical performance, "The Princedom Of Mayuripur" in October 1997 to celebrate their tenth anniversary. They had come a long way from their start in the Railway Workers Cultural Center. And, as best that I can understand, a new way of performing this type of theater and art was presented in the form of additional dialogue, comments and explanations that apparently were added as asides as the performance progressed. The tenth anniversary performances were met with high praises from both the media and the audiences. One effect on the audiences was in the recruitment of younger dancers who were inspired by the performances they watched at these shows and who now hungered to be a part of this dance regimen. Elena Fiskovets, one of the oldest and longest members of the group and mentioned before as one of the fellowship recipients, created a junior Mayuri group to accommodate this youthful enthusiasm. Ed Note: Below are Internet based pictures of Elena Fiskovets in Indian dress over the years
The creation of this junior group must have been a great moment for Vera Evgrafova whose dreams, foresight and hard work created the entire concept. Now, she could look at Mayuri as a self-sustaining organism. But even higher moments were to come in the near future as Vera would also be honored with the “Honored Worker of Culture of Karelia” award.
In addition, the group performed in the national Russian dance contest, Tikhvinskiy Lel (held in Tikhvin) where it became a laureate for its presentation of the “Princedom of Mayuripur”. Here is where I have a language barrier: In French and English, this would indicate an award for an outstanding creative accomplishment and maybe this was the case. But, it seems in reading about this event that laureate is the Russian equivalent of attaining first place in the competition. Whatever the nuance of meaning, a gala celebration was held and dedicated to this “victory” and Vera was again honored when she received the Grand Prix award for her group’s presentation.
Dance is very different in Russia (and The Soviet Union) than here in this country. National institutes of dance in Russia are highly respected if not esteemed and this includes the Bolshoi ballet among others. But the appearance described above at Tikhvinskiv Lel was truly transformative it would seem because some time after winning the contest – It seems that this is in September of 1999 - Mayuri was proclaimed to be the best group ever to have performed there.
Again the Indian government took note of this achievement. Mayuri was invited to participate at the Indian Classical Dance contest sponsored by the Indian government through the auspices of the Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Center in Moscow. On this occasion both the adult and junior group gave performances in a variety of different Indian dance genres. I assume they did well but there does not seem to be a record of the result but in this case just being invited to perform should indicate that the group had vastly grown in prestige Ed Note: The Nehru center is a part of the Indian Embassy in Moscow. Below, we have taken a few shots of the activities within this center which includes Hindi lessons, yoga, art and cultural classes and technology exchanges and interactions
Administratively, the Mayuri group adopted its present organizational structure on May 21st, 2000. I don’t have the full details but apparently the group is now a part of the Karelia - India Fellowship society. Perhaps this new administrative system has had the desired effect of increasing their funding. The goal of this society is to promote the culture of India to the people of the Republic of Karelia. Besides dancing, this now includes Indian art by way of festivals, exhibitions and similar events.
The first real test of this Fellowship was “The days of India” held in Petrozavodsk in April of 2001. Mayuri, with its dance routines, represented the Indian dance culture, specifically Chrepovets and Vologda in several performances (These names of the variations of Indian culture were found in my research but I do not know what they mean to Indian dance). As the group’s fame spread based on these and other appearances, the group was honored by an invitation, extended by the wife of the Indian Ambassador to Russia, to perform at an event organized by the Indian Women’s Association in Moscow. This was reported back to India by several Indian journalists including Saeed Naqui who made a video report about Mayuri, and its activities, that was shown on Indian TV.
I must make note of a performance by the group in 2004 in Petrozavodsk. The readers of this web site, I have been told, will probably understand this better than I. There is a very popular European performer named Arash who was born in Iraq but grew up in Finland. Around this time he released a song called “Salamati” which in Persian is an invitation to drink at the bar. An edited version of the music, so I am told, was choreographed into an Israeli dance. The Mayuri group with Natalia Fridman (mentioned above) as the lead did their own "Bollywood" interpretation of the dance combining classical Indian dance movement with folk dancing. This video already exists somewhere on this web site and this is the video below that I have asked the editors to show. Ed Note: We've taken the liberty of showing several still pictures below from the video in question. At the bottom is a link to the full video
In 2008, Mayuri in a sense returned to its roots as it was given an invitation from the people of India to perform at various locations within that country. The group took part in the "Taj Mahotsav" festival in Agra (Agra is best known as the site of the Taj Mahal) and the "Karala Mahotsav" festival in Kannanur, two of India’s most prestigious national festivals. One would have been surprised if the reviews were not steller since after all the group exhibits Indian influence in almost every facet of their dancing and presentation. So, it should not be a surprise that I can report to you that the group was praised highly for their creative art.
India is like a second home to Mayuri and the group keeps broadening creative contacts with that country’s art (and with other cultures related to India’s). The group members sometimes go to India to collect classical and folk dance material to be used in their presentations. It has been reported that they have mastered such popular Indian dance styles as Bharat Natyam, Kuchipudi, Mohiniattam and Kuravanji which I must be truthful in reporting that I have no personal knowledge of as my ancestral background relates to the West Coast of Africa specifically the Ivory Coast. But the pictures of these styles of Indian dance are quite appealing.
And they are reported, by way of their website, to also be pursuing their training in Hindustani and Carnatic music styles which I do not have the capacity to describe. And it’s not just the dance, music and performance culture of the Indian subcontinent that is pursued. Recently in 2015 they hosted a yoga retreat in Sri Lanka.
A few years ago it was possible to see this dance group here in the United States, first in North Carolina and then in New York City. In October 2011 Mayuri visited the United States at the invitation of Hum Sub of North Carolina. Hum Sum is a non profit group in North Carolina - located in Cary which is part of the Research Triangle area of the state - dedicated to Indian culture. Almost ten thousand people, it was reported, attended the dance festival that featured Mayuri.
The next year, in August, Mayuri was invited to perform at the event called "Erasing Borders: Festival of Indian Dance" held at the 31st Downtown Festival in New York City, presented by the Battery Dance Company and the Indo-American Arts Council. Again Mayuri was the hit of the show with several enthusiastic reviews in the New York Times. Ed Note: With the catch phrase "From Russia With Love, Bollywood in NYC", Mayuri performs in New York city in 2012 as indicated in the pictures below
Since Mayuri dates back to 1987, the 25th anniversary of the troupe was celebrated on October 28th 2012 at the Musical Theatre of the Republic of Karelia. This theater, as you can see if you visit its Facebook page or web site, usually hosts ballet and opera (at the time that I write this in 2015, this year’s repertoire is Madama Butterfly (G.Puccini), Carmen (G.Bizet) and La Traviata (G.Verdi)) but, at least for that evening, the Mayuri group was given its recognition. I assume that Mayuri repaid the favor by giving a performance that evening on a stage that usually sees opera and ballet as indicated below in snippets from the theater's web site
And the significance of the Mayuri group, and how they are respected in their own area, can also be demonstrated in who delivered the award in person, Alexander Khudilainen, who at the time was the President of Karelia (in The United States this probably corresponds to your Governors). In addition he awarded Elena Sandhu (I think this is the same Elena Fiskovets mentioned above), then the oldest member of the group, the title of the Honoured Worker of Culture of the Republic of Karelia "Ed Note:The Republic of Karelia's own web page (in English) covered the award ceremony and you can click here to access the site. Below are two pictures from this site.
In conclusion, I think the story of the Mayuri dancers is very fascinating. Watching their performances, who would even think that the dance group originated from Russia, and especially the Northeast region of the country. It is truly amazing!
On November 30th 1939, several months after the onset of World War II, the Soviet Union attempted to annex Finnish territory resulting in "The Winter War", a war between Finland and the Soviet Union during which the Soviets did make small gains in terms of territory. This would not be the only skirmish between these two countries during the world conflict that ended in 1945. It began a series of de facto border wars and border changes over the next few years that few are aware of.
Although it seemed like a contest between David and Goliath (and some would say between good and evil, democracy and totalitarianism and freedom and slavery) with Goliath having the decided edge, the armed forces of the Soviet Union had been fatally weakened by a series of purges to its Military officers ordered by Joseph Stalin who at that time was running the Soviet Union and whose paranoia about retaining power included visions of an officer led coup against him.
In March of 1940 an interim peace treaty was signed between the parties but it was only a matter of time and events before this treaty would be broken. Right in the midst of this set of conflicts lies Petrozavodsk, today a city of a quarter of a million just off of Lake Onega that is said to have been founded on the orders of Peter The Great (the Petro at the beginning of the name honors Tzar Peter). The location of the city is at the Eastern edge of the extent of the Swedish Empire (Finland at the time was a part of this empire) at its height in the 11th century, but was gradually taken over by the Tsar’s armies, claiming the land for Russia, beginning in the 13th/14th century.
The weakness in the Soviet armed forces at the onset of World War II, indicated above, would become even more evident as the Germans invaded the Soviet Union on June 22,1941. Russian resistance all but collapsed in the next few months and during this time the Germans took advantage by encouraging Finland, at the time a somewhat problematic ally of the German Nazi regime, to invade the Soviet Union from the North as the German armies invaded from the west.
The result of this was that the Finns entered Petrozavodsk, and surrounding areas, on October 1st, 1941 to limited Russian resistance. Finland had expected the Soviet Union to strike first in this area because on several occasions prior to the German invasion Soviet diplomats had said that in the event of war with Germany they would strike against Finland.
Although there was a limited attempt by the Finns to forestall this feared invasion by declaring Finnish neutrality prior to the German invasion, the advent of war with Germany motivated the Soviet forces to bomb Finnish towns on the Russian border and, in retaliation to this, the Finnish parliament declared that a state of war existed between Finland and the Soviet Union as this smaller nation’s forces went on to invade various locations along the common border
This new war was called the "Continuation War" by the Finns as they claimed that the Soviet Union had broken the treaty of March, 1940, and thus continued the aforementioned “Winter War.” The Finns found that they could only depend on Germany to supply assistance – not to mention diplomatic approval – and this cemented their ill-fated alliance with the Nazis.
But as they found, alliance with Germany at the time came with many expected obligations. This included compliance with the Nazi attempt to destroy by starvation and encirclement what at that time was called the city of Leningrad (prior to and now called St Petersberg) where the Finns found themselves expected to complete the investment (encirclement) of that city from the North. Probably the extended occupation of Petrozavodsk, which would end in June, 1944, was a result of this German pressure.
In one aspect the Finns were able to blunt German pressure to their credit. Hitler asked the Finnish government to expel its Jewish citizens and turn them over to his henchman which the Finnish government declined to do. Obviously other demands, like this invasion, could not be shunted aside. It is suggested in some histories that the Finns only goal at this stage of this war was to recover the territory lost in 1939 and perhaps this limited the Finnish participation in the attack on Leningrad.
Nevertheless, when the Finns occupied Petrozavodsk they established concentration camps in the city where it is reported that many Russian children were held. No one seems to know, or has written about, what happened in these camps except to indicate that wide spread starvation of the camp inhabitants resulted. This was probably due to administrative ineptitude of the Finnish occupiers and not direct malicious action. But certainly there was parts of the Finnish government that followed the German examples in the treatment of civilians (and to be accurate, the Russian treatment of civilians could also leave a lot to be desired).
There is a saying about living and dying by the sword and the war between the Finns and Russians would prove this point. As the Germans were defeated and retreated back through Europe, the Russians could devote more resources to what they considered their Finnish problem. By mid and late 1944 Russian forces had liberated what they considered their territory (including Petrozavodsk) and moved the war into Finland. The final result of the peace treaty ending these skirmishes between the Finnish and Russian forces at the time was that some Finnish territory - where 400,000 Finns lived who were evacuated to other parts of Finland - was appropraited by the Soviet Union and is now a part of the present Republic of Karelia.
Ed Note:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYAnhVURJlU is the link to the Mayuri group doing their routine to Arash's Salamati. While this is not Israeli dance, it should give a smile to anybody who appreciates any type of creative genius. This is the video that Ibrahim was shown at his college
Ed Note: Ibrahim has us watching Mayuri videos. We are going to add another one for you to view. It is a lot more fun watching these videos than working on this web site, that's for sure. Above you should have noticed that Fridman's dress was more Arabic than Indian. Could we call it more like a belly dancer. In most of the videos of Mayuri (and you can see their dances on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/user/reshmarussia/videos) the dancers dress in what from Western eyes would seem like traditional Indian dress. But there's another video of Fridman doing another arabic dance, Habibi, and you can see this at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBCJDvXy8RA. Mayuri's web presence is at www.dancemayuri.org.