Philippa Frisby is an independent film producer and documentary maker whose television credits include The Torture Trail and The Saudi Tapes for Channel 4’s Dispatches while her film work includes The Tale of the Three Lost Jewels (1994).
Also an experienced Iyengar teacher, Philippa came across Mallakhamb – an ancient form of pole yoga - while filming in India and was captivated by Shri Uday Deshpande and his passion for teaching this artform. That initial meeting eventually blossomed into Philippa’s latest documentary film, The Wrestler’s Cane, in which some of Uday’s sightless students learn to perform asanas on an eight-and-a-half-foot pole.
The evening will begin with the film’s trailer followed by a sitar recital by Baluji Shrivastav OBE, one of the world’s leading composers and sitar players. A multi-instrumentalist with many albums to his name, Baluji has worked with global artists such as Stevie Wonder and Coldplay, and has composed for orchestra, theatre, dance, film, television, and radio – and his music features in The Wrestler’s Cane.
Uday Deshpande recently honoured with the Padma Shri award has been Mallakhamb’s guru for over 50 years. Uday will discuss the connections between Mallakhamb Pole yoga and Hatha Yoga with Daniel Simpson, a yoga teacher and broadcaster who lectures and writes on the history and philosophy of yoga - at SOAS and at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, while offering timeless wisdom for our modern dilemmas.