Dancing her way to a stress-free life

Granting a patent in performing arts is not a common practice in India, but now Pune-based dance exponent Urvashi Shrivastava has applied for a patent in stress relief dance (SRD) using three Indian classical dance forms — Bharatnatyam, Odissi and Kathak — in the US, Europe, Australia and Japan.

Shrivastava, who has a PhD in psychology, teaches Indian classical dance forms at Urvashi Kala Srishti. She has also written a book titled Stress Management and Dance. Urvashi has won government of India's scholarship on folk dances of Rajasthan.

Urvashi said, “I have invented a unique dance therapy called stress relief dance, through which one can reduce stress by using Indian classical dance forms. Since granting patents in performing arts is not prevalent in India, I have applied for the patent in USA, Europe, Australia and Japan. I have completed all the formalities and I am waiting for the patent to be granted. I am confident that I will get the patent. After receiving the patent, I can launch DVDs and CDs on the technique, so that more people can benefit from it.”

Talking about SRD, she said, “I have merged the three dance styles and choreographed the dance by taking steps from all the three dance forms. I have added navrasa (nine different moods) in the dance form. For SRD, we first conduct a personality analysis of a person, take information about his or her profession, marital status, lifestyle, interests and choreograph a dance accordingly.

"The therapy is divided into two segments that are active and passive. In the active segment, one can reduce stress by dancing, while in the passive segment, one can reduce stress by watching other people dance.”

Over 100 people from various fields have attended Urvashi’s SRD workshops.