Mayuri aspired to become an actor, but driven by circumstances, she emerged as a professional Kathak dancer and has been running her dance academy successfully in Pune.

Mayuri Yadav is a professional Kathak Dancer. She is the Founder and Director of Nrutya Nayika Dance School in Pune.

Mayuri hails from Indore. She did her schooling in Indore itself. Everything was going well till her father died. It affected her studies and she failed in 12th grade. From there the struggle started in her life. People’s taunts harassed her and made her feel worthless. Then she passed her 12th privately. Her mother could not afford her further studies, so she did private tutoring at home for a year to earn some money. With great difficulty, she managed to do her B.Com from private and learned Kathak alongside.

Meanwhile, Mayuri got some opportunities in dance and got to perform in and choreograph big shows with her mentors. This made her very popular in the dance field. That’s when she decided to make her career in Kathak. To make her dreams come true, she borrowed money from her friends and went to Pune. There, she did her BA and MA in Kathak from Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Pune.

Talking about her struggles, Mayuri shares that she had barely settled in Pune when she got a big blow when her family went into a big financial crisis again due to their wrong decisions. To pay off the debts, she had to drop her BA. But her mentor sponsored her studies. She struggled to earn her livelihood by doing small jobs. Even after completing her degree, she was not getting any opportunity in dance which bothered her a lot. She was fired from her job as a complete failure. Due to this deep shock, she went into depression and even thought of ending her life. Then she got a job offer from a dance school to teach Kathak. She bounced back and founded ‘Nritya Nayika Dance School.’ In no time, COVID struck and lockdown was imposed. Again she was walloped by her luck.

Talking about her role models, Mayuri says she considers Sushmita Sen and Kangana Ranaut as her role models for their passion for work and the way they boldly live their lives.

During the COVID pandemic, Mayuri shifted her dance classes to the online platform. Initially, she had to face a lot of problems in online classes. Slowly she started growing and achieved a good height in her business. Her dance academy was appreciated by the people and earned a good name.

In her free time, Mayuri loves taking naps and doing Yoga to keep herself fit. Apart from this, she is fond of acting, so she loves to play singles and write journals, stories and dialogues. She also likes to dance and make her dancing videos. Sometimes she likes to play cards, carrom and other indoor games.

If anyone wants to make a career in the Indian Classical Dance forms, Mayuri advises them that if you enter into it thinking that just by doing a crash course or in four years of hard work you can become a successful dancer, then it is your illusion. She adds that before entering this field, keep your purpose in mind and work hard accordingly, she suggests.