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Where passion meets expression

Physical grace can be obtained in many ways, dance is one of them.

Bangalore: Physical grace can be obtained in many ways, dance is one of them. True grace, however, springs eternal from the soul. Madhulita Mohapatra, one of Bangalore’s foremost Odissi dancers, falls under the second category.

Ever since she moved to Bangalore four years ago, her only aim has been to bring “Odissi to every home in Karnataka”. With very little government support for the arts, the artistes take it upon themselves to do everything they can to spread awareness on their passions. Madhulita is no exception.

Odissi, the classical dance of Orissa, was born in the venerable chambers of the Jagannath Temple, about a hundred years before the birth of Christ. These Maharis or temple dancers, were coloquially known as the Devadasis.

The dance form, which found favour among the royal patrons, flourished until the advent of the Colonial era, when devadasis fell into disrepute and the dance very nearly flickered out of existence. It was revived once more in the twentieth century, at the University Youth festival in Delhi.

A young dancer, who looked like a Konarak statue come to life, stepped onto the stage. Her mesmerising performance breathed new life into a dying art. Even so, the dance was little known outside of Orissa.

Over the past couple of years, however, that changed. Bangalore, as if by magic, opened its eyes to this mysterious dance of the east, when Prathima Bedi, the late wife of Kiran Bedi, founded Nrityagram. More recently, as Odissi performances take place almost every weekend at popular venues across the city, one name features most of all – Nrityantar.

Founded by Madhulita Moha­patra, a student of Guru Pankaj­chandran Das, who had moved to the city and begun to teach her neighbour children the dance, Nrityantar has gone onto to become one of the best known schools in the country.

“Nrityantar is a humble attempt,” says Madhulita, “to promote and preserve India’s rich pluralistic cultural legacy by promoting and teaching classical dances, and nurturing fine talents.” The name itself means ‘change and transformation through dance’, she explained.

Today, Nrityanta organises regular and special classes in Odissi at a number of venues across the city, apart from workshops, seminars and lecture demonstrations for those interested in it, as well as performances for art lovers and connoisseurs. “We hope to instill a sense of responsibility in individuals, institutions and society, toward the promotion and preservation of our proud art forms,” she said.

Dance, just like music and art, has great powers and benefits, in the spiritual, curative, developmental, personal, physical sense, contributing to emotional growth and wellbeing. “That’s actually what made me decide to teach children in government schools,” she said. Madhulita and a few of her students make regular rounds of these schools, teaching the children and organising skits and small productions for their programmes.

“I would go to government schools and talk to them about Odissi. They never knew what it was, to them, classical dance meant Bharatnatyam,” Madhulita recalls. She began conducting free lessons for children in these schools, most of whom hail from economically backward families, in the hope of giving something they could never have dreamed of otherwise.

When she first walked into these classrooms and told the kids they were going to learn a classical dance, they were beside themselves with excitement. “Bharatnatyam,” they would say, happily. “I had to explain what Odissi was, before I began teaching them.” Today, the kids are proud to call themselves students of the ancient dance.

Madhulita, who studied at the famous Orissa Dance Academy under the guidance of Guru Gangadhar Pradhan, Guru Aruna Mohanty and Guru Pabitra Kumar Pradhan, quit her job after she married, having decided to dedicate her life to the art form. “It was always my wish to promote and serve Odissi in every capacity,” she said.

When she arrived and moved into her home in Banaswadi, where she still lives (in her dance academy Nrityantar), neighbourhood children would come curiously by. She began taking lessons for them. They loved the lessons so much that Madhulita became even more resolute in her aim of spreading awareness.

Despite the fact that all this work kept Madhulita very busy, there was no real large-scale platform through which the dance was promoted. Bangalore was not seen as a centre for Odissi and dancers here found it rather difficult to create a national reputation for themselves.

To overcome this very significant hurdle, Madhulita decided to begin an Odissi festival which would have dancers from across the country visit Bangalore to perform. That’s how Naman was founded in 2010 and it remains the only festival in India dedicated purely to Odissi.

Today, it isn’t unusual to hear young people say they’re off to watch an Odissi performance. The dancers perform nearly every weekend with great enthusiasm and the tradition, marked by grace and fluidity, characterised by the S-shaped pose, soon found great popularity among the city’s youth.

Madhulita’s humility is overwhelming, but her contribution to the art has been substantial. “Art is a continuous journey for me,” she said. “I pray that Lord Jagannath will give me the energy and strength to continue serving Odissi until I breathe my last.”

( Source : dc )
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