Odissi dancer Kumkum Mohanty, artistic director of Geeta Govinda founded in 2005 wears many hats. A disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra — from the time she was 11-year-old and till his demise — she is a scholar, choreographer, performer and a former administrator serving the Government of Odisha in the post of secretary till her retirement in 2004.
One met Kumkum at the Mukteswar Festival of Dance in Bhubaneswar — where her students presented group choreography on the inaugural day of the festival at Mukteswar temple premises. We had a chat with the dancer at Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre in Kolkata where she was invited by the Director Om Prakash Bharati to perform at their festival ‘Nritya Srijan’, along with her group. There she surprised the audience by performing Mangalacharan and a piece of abhinaya herself.
The senior dancer Kumkum Mohanty is known for her masterly abhinaya. She has Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and the prestigious civilian award Padma Shri.
You have achieved so much in performing arts and hold the post at the pinnacle of the performing arts, besides being a civil servant, holding the post of secretary in for Odisha Government . How did you manage to balance these two?
My mother was a lover of the arts and encouraged me to learn Odissi, infusing me with the ideal of reaching the top. My father on the other hand was a firm believer in the pursuance of an academic career and would not allow any compromise.
However I had imbibed the gift of hard work from an early age, which did not allow my interest to sag at any point, in both the areas. There was a time when both became my passion.
After I had joined the services my first posting was at Cuttack and subsequently in Calcutta as Director of Foreign Post. Thereafter I was on a six year deputation as CEO, Odissi Research Centre, later named as Guru Kelucharan Odissi Research Centre. It was around this time that I wrote the book “Pathfinder — a detailed codification of the grammar of Odissi dance” in two volumes.
At the end of my deputation tenure, the Chief Minister of Odisha J.B. Patnaik wanted me to continue in Bhubaneswar, doing the kind of work I was doing.
After 18 long years of service I was absorbed as the special secretary of culture, Government of Odisha. At this point my passion for dance became my full-fledged profession.
During this time, my husband who was in the Odisha cadre of IAS, became jealous of me. He was a Ranji Trophy cricketer who had risen to be the captain of the team and could not play in Test Cricket, because of his service.
When did you start your dance school and where?
I opened my dance school Geeta Govinda in 2005 at Unit 2, Bhubaneswar on a piece of land allotted to me by the Government of Odisha.
Did you have any special training in abhinaya?
I was taught both nritta and abhinaya by my guru, who taught me everything in the span of 50 years that I was associated with him.
In fact, I can claim to be carrying on my master’s legacy through the guru-shishya parampara, as I stayed under his umbrella longer than any other disciple.
