HYDERABAD: The flow art community in the city has been growing by leaps and bounds. It is said to encompass the emerging movement-based art forms that integrate dance and creative exploration of movement with skill-based prop manipulation. They include popular ones like hula hooping, juggling and fire spinning among many others. The community now calls the KBR Park in Jubilee Hills it's home. If you are somebody who takes a stroll at this park on Sundays, then you are probably familiar with it already. CE speaks to a couple of artists who perform at the park regularly.
Bhoomika Perti, the social media marketing manager at Sacred Earth Cafe in Madhapur, and one of the curators of flow art defines it as a type of body movement with the use of different props. “It is all about living in the present moment and trying to create different movements and flowing with different props. Some of the props I love to use include a hoop and a dapostar (a fun cloth spinning prop originating from Spain). The physical activity is basically a mind and body coordination routine where you train your mind with different flexible movements — finding your true moment is the whole idea of flow art. These practices are very grounding and help keep stress at bay,” she shares.
Talking about the various props people use, she says, “There are umpteen number of them. There’s something called a staff which looks like a stick and allows you to swing it in different ways. There is also the fire poi and the juggling sticks which are a hot favourite these days.”
She adds that the first such flow art gathering in the city took place at the Sacred Earth Cafe and looking at the community growth, artists formed a group and decided to carry it forward every Sunday at the KBR park. On Saturdays, they continue performing at the cafe, to ensure people have a different experience of the art form. She says, “Flow art is all about bringing your body’s balance together. It is beneficial for your body, and flow props are magical and beautiful to just experiment with and experience. It makes you physically and mentally fit.”
K Kavya, a flow artist and facilitator and an account manager at That’s No Moon marketing shares how she got into the art form: “I started hooping in the second lockdown, it has been one year now and I am self-taught. I was always interested in dance but I never pursued it beyond a couple of gigs. I always owned the hoop but I never went beyond waist hooping. Last year, I was living a very sedentary lifestyle. Then one fine day, I just picked up my hoop and could never put it down. I started my page and shared videos. Slowly, I got in touch with the flow art community in the city and I volunteered to teach hula hooping.” She understood the flow art culture from cities like Delhi and Bengaluru and wanted Hyderabad to grow too. “At the age of 30, when my mental health worsened because of the pandemic, just a little prop helped me find my inner child and that is what flow art is all about,” Kavya says.
Vinay Ameda, co-owner of a supermarket in the city, is elated about the art form growing to be popular in the city in the recent past. “I started spinning poi about three years ago and people around me were curious about the art form or the prop I was using (a poi). I was hopeful that it would slowly gain popularity. A year later, when I performed at a cafe, I was surprised to learn that nobody knew about even then. Thankfully, two years later today, I’m more happy and more people are showing interest in flow art and its props.” Vinay says that when he started out, he knew of only six people doing it.
“But now I see many others around me reaping the benefits of the art form at parks and cafes in the city. I think it’s safe to call it a form of yoga or body art movement and it is meditation in a way and when people are able to bring their mind and body together.”