[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of actress Mayuri Bhandari’s The Anti “Yogi” at Hollywood Fringe Festival 2024.
Mayuri Bhandari’s incredibly perceptive and inspiring play left me eager to get back in the yoga studio and in awe of both her physical abilities and her charismatic and deeply powerful talents as a performer and educator.
Setting yogi aside for a moment, I think what this show might really about is the tragic and almost comical way the west misinterprets and appropriates eastern culture. In particular, yoga, which is a multi billion industry these days. And why exactly are people wearing yoga pants to the store when they clearly haven’t just come from a yoga class?
Mayuri Bhandari has a deep and intuitive understanding of yoga, the healing qualities, and the reverence for the meditative nature of the female. In The Anti “Yogi,” Mayuri takes us on her own journey of self discovery as well as the unhappy discovery of the often absurd relationship America in particular has with yoga. Exposing, with the help of Kali Goddess of Death and a few other lesser gods, the dark underbelly of western yoga and its obsession with gongs, bells, fat Buddha and too-tight yoga wear.
Mayuri is a physical phenomenon. She dances beautifully, she moves her body in ways I never could. But in this hilarious, inventive and mind and body stretching play, she enlightens. I did not know, for example, that yoga is a spiritual tradition, not just a physical workout. And that although its roots are in India the monastic tradition has spread throughout Asia and is practiced by Hindus and Buddhists alike.
Mayuri also brings the astonishing talents of her accompanying musician Neel Agrawal, whose absolutely astonishing skills elevate an already incandescent show and Mayuri’s beautiful performance.
The Anti “Yogi” is packed with humor, but there is also a serious message. Appropriation of a culture as rich and ancient as the Yoga traditions is of course idiotic, but it’s also rather sad. It belittles us all in the end. And remember, India is the largest democracy on earth…so maybe you had better think twice about where you put your Walmart poster of Kali.
The Anti “Yogi” is an utterly brilliant show exploding with the talents of Mayuri and Neel. The choreography is fierce and gorgeously realized by the accomplished dancing of Mayuri, who literally invented “Bollywood on Ice.” Mayuri is also the first South Asian figure skater to showcase figure skating on Indian National Television and is a national figure skating champion. On top of all of this talent is the history of this incredible art form/religion/spiritual path taught to us by the Professor of Yoga and Dance at Loyola Marymount University herself – Mayuri Bhandari. So what more would you ever need to know about yoga???
I absolutely loved The Anti Yogi…it’s definitely one of the must-see shows of this year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival and I highly recommend you see this incredible show!
Tickets:
https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/10384?tab=tickets
Where:
Zephyr Theatre
7456 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90046
When:
Thursday, June 20 at 7:00 PM
Saturday, June 22 at 6:30 pm – This show will be PAY WHAT YOU CAN and FREE for all FRINGE participants
The Team
D’Lo is a queer/trans Ilangai Tamil-American actor/writer/comic. He is a teacher/mentor/producer for writers working in film and theater. He has dramaturg’d/directed solo artists since 2010.
Shyamala Moorty is an award-winning director, choreographer and dramaturg. Her live performance work has toured internationally and draws on dance, theater, multimedia, and community engagement. Her two short films have won multiple awards and are currently showing on the film festival circuit.Producer: Jessica Lynn Johnson, STARS co-executive producer, is a published playwright, recipient of BEST NATIONAL SOLO ARTIST AWARD, advisory board member of the LA Women’s Theatre Festival, co-executive producer of the Joshua Tree Solo Theatre Festival, and founder and CEO of Soaring Solo Studios International.