Odissi exponent Aloka Kanungo, a disciple of late Kelucharan Mohapatra — and earlier Raghunath Dutta — is today a dance scholar and a teacher. The founder director of Shinjan Nrityalaya has a fine troupe of dancers that performed “Sthapatya Satya” recently at the Konarak Festival to an appreciative audience. Once, though, dance was a hobby she had dropped for academic pursuits. Talking of her life in dance, she says candidly, “Dance interested me from childhood, because even as a child I loved recognition and wanted to be admired. I was a very active child. Later in life I looked forward to publicity. I desired to be noticed for my work, which I imbibed so painstakingly. I like people to think I am good and exceptional and I work hard to achieve perfection. I dance for love. To start with dance was a passion but now it is also my profession.”
Aloka says she loves acting as well. “When I was in Cuttack I acted in Mrinal Sen’s ‘Matir Manush’. I had a small role in the film as a child artist. I also acted in ‘Amar Geeti’. I used to do a lot of commercials. I had to give up all these, because I had to concentrate on dance.”
Aloka recalls the heady days as a teenager when she was a student of Guru Kelucharan at Kala Vikash Kendra, Cuttack. “That was my peak , when I took part in many programmes. After this there was a lull. I had given up dance altogether. I went to Bolangir, completed my formal education. I graduated in Science and did my B.Ed.”
What brought her back to the dance world? “I was in Calcutta, when my guruji, Kelucharan Mohapatra started taking workshops here. My desire to pursue my passion was aroused and I joined him. I always played Radha in his choreographic work of Geet Govinda. I earned instant recognition,” she says, adding that the chance to perform at the Kal ke Kalakar festival in Mumbai was a good break too. Subsequent opportunities to perform at bigger festivals and internationally in the company of her guru were highlights in her journey.
“Dance is a complete art form,” says Aloka, “in which the body, mind and soul become one. As dancers we go through all the states of yoga —yama, niyama, asana, pranayam, pratyhara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi.”
