The soft-spoken Urs, a celebrated German dancer and choreographer, says though technique is important dance must be performed from the heart. “As a performer, I follow my heart. But there has to be a balance between technique and the heart,” he says over phone, a day after his solo piece performance Thalamus, at Rangashankara recently. It was presented by Goethe-Insitut/Max Mueller Bhavan.The dance theatre piece, divided into three parts, based on the text of Sogyal Rinpoche, explored the fissures and conflicts in our inner worlds. “It is a look at the situation of our times. We are constantly multi-tasking, where is the silence? This was the motivation to create the piece,” says Urs about Thalamus.Urs was earlier trained in textile printing and costume design. But studied dance, from 1981 to 1985, at the Folkwang-Hochschule, Essen, and later attended a six-month training residency in New York. Since 1988, ever since he became a freelance dancer, he has performed in Europe, Asia and South America. He has been to India four times, including this year, in 1987, 1996, 2002, and 2012. He chose dance, compelled from motivation within. “I was always looking to understand why I am living. I started to do Yoga. I wanted to explore body awareness.”Urs says though his style hasn’t changed over his more than three decade long career in dance, the creative process involves experimentation. “Creating a piece is like polishing a rock from where a diamond comes out. I always question myself. It is like fitting the pieces of a puzzle, until you get the whole picture,” says Urs, who was awarded the Kritikerpreis für Tanz (German Critics Award for Dance) in May 2004 in Berlin.