My Journey as an Odissi Dancer
My school life was a journey filled with discoveries and opportunities. It all started with the day in Class 4 when I had to choose a form of Indian dance as my primary activity, amidst Bharatnatyam, Odissi, Kathak, and Folk. The yearning to learn something new and my unfamiliarity with Odissi led me to choose and find solace in Kathak. The first Kathak dance class turned out alright. We learned how to do the ‘Bhumi Pranam’, a salutation to Mother Earth at the end and beginning of each form of Indian classical dance, followed by the learning of single and double hand gestures and just the basic footwork. Everything seemed to be fine until I along with other Kathak students noticed our other friends in other dances.
While we kept practicing the basic monotonous routine of steps and hand gestures, my classmates in Odissi and Bharatanatyam were busy learning a dance item with rigorous movements and to music beyond our teacher’s ‘bol’. A gnawing feeling began to emerge in my stomach, which worsened when I saw how much fun the other dance classes were. Soon enough the Odissi dancers even got the opportunity to perform on stage after a workshop, and that was the moment I knew I wanted to join Odissi as well.
The one year of transition, where I waited to change my dance since it could only be changed in Class 5, was when my journey in Odissi truly started. I started learning Odissi steps and dance pieces from my friends who had taken Odissi in our dormitory every day after classes. I even practiced Odissi when my Kathak teacher asked us to practice on our own during Kathak classes (she was obviously not very happy about it). I developed an instinct to observe other senior Odissi dancers during their practices and their performances in the inter-house dance competitions. When I finally changed my dance from Kathak to Odissi, I internally knew that Odissi was the best fit for me and it motivated me to genuinely work hard for becoming an Odissi dancer.
Indian Classical dancers have the honour of performing their debut recitals with the approval of their teacher or guru after years of training and dedication to the dance. For example, Kathak has its Rang Pravesh and Bharatnatyam has Arangetram while Odissi has Manch Pravesh. With Odissi being the only dance for which our school provided the opportunity to train for the Manch Pravesh, it became a milestone achievement for every Odissi student. After every Odissi performance I witnessed, whether it was the Manch Pravesh or the inter-house competition, I strived to be like my seniors. My rigorous dance practices started when I started participating in the inter-house dance competition from Class 7 itself. Each year we practiced for an entire month before the performance, filled with arduous night practices (more serious than annual function practices) and scoldings and corrections (for each and every mistake) by our seniors in-charges. However, even now, I believe that most of my development is an outcome of these inter-house practices.
Besides the practical part, we also studied the theory part of Indian classical dances for two years. Since Odissi originated in the Hindu temples of Odisha, many items in Odissi depict scenes from many mythological stories about Hindu Gods and Goddesses. Born in a Buddhist family, I was never told about these stories. Therefore, while studying the subject I had an opportunity to learn about these interesting stories. We also studied about similarities and differences in different dances like the types of instruments and the ‘taal’ or beat used in the songs, the difference in costumes, eminent artists, etc. This led me to realise that there was more to each dance than I had perceived. My opinions from my Kathak experience started changing at this point and since then I have started respecting all dances and today, I really want to learn more classical dances, especially either Kathak, Bharatanatyam, or Kuchipudi.
After practicing dance for seven years, I finally began training for my Manch Pravesh under Guru Madhumita Raut, as a disciple of Padmashri Guru Mayadhar Raut in Class 12. This training taught me that each basic posture also had a sense of perfection that we hadn’t achieved. So our each step was corrected and refined to the best of our abilities for the five dance pieces we were performing. Other than us learning by practicing, we also learnt the importance of visual learning while observing our Guru’s other students, we got to see the same steps we were doing from a different perspective. We felt like their experience and talent surpassed ours and that pushed us to polish our dancing and perfect it by our Manch Pravesh.
Throughout the six-month practice for Manch Pravesh the most essential thing that I learned was the importance of perfecting the core of any skill that you want to achieve. In Odissi, it is not only about not forgetting the steps on stage or looking pretty and graceful, it is how well you have developed your basics. For example, in the ‘tribhangi’ posture, the more you bend and maintain that posture throughout the dance, the better. The grace in your movement then follows automatically. In Class 12, I finally carried the responsibility to teach my juniors and practice with them for the inter-house. It felt like things had come full circle, from my previous days of learning transforming to new days of teaching. I experienced an unknown level of joy in teaching them because it gave me the chance to share the knowledge I had received that would help them practice and improve before their own Manch Pravesh.
Although I might have not gotten the full experience of training every day for dance or the different kinds of training that dancers in day schools usually get, I am undoubtedly grateful for everything that I have experienced over the course of these years. Dance has given me much more than skill, it has taught me discipline, respect, time-management, and perseverance. When I introduce myself to new people, I feel proud to call myself a practitioner of Odissi dance.
