‘Dance cannot be a job or a profession - it is a calling’, reads a post on the website of Odissi exponent Sharmila Mukerjee. “You have to have a passion for what you do. Otherwise you can’t be creative. In my case, I perform, choreograph, teach, read, create...even as I carry out administrative aspects. So unless you are devoted to dance, you can’t manage it all,” says the dancer.
She was in Thiruvananthapuram to present ‘Sookshma’, a dance production of her Bengaluru-based dance school, Sanchali Centre for Odissi Dance, with her students at the ongoing Soorya festival. “I performed in the city after a long gap. Earlier I had presented pieces choreographed by my guru, the late Kelucharan Mohapatra. I was happy to stage my own work at the festival,” says Sharmila. She has been performing for three decades now.
She came under the tutelage of Kelucharan Mohapatra in 1984 in Kolkata. After making her mark as a fine performer and teacher, she shifted to Bengaluru when her husband’s work took him there. Her school, Sanchali, was formed in 2004. “It was not easy to start afresh in a new city. The senior gurus were welcoming. It took a while for me to get students. However gradually we established our credentials and I am proud that now some of my students have become teachers,” she says.
Choreography has been her forte and the performance wing of her school often comes up with thematic productions. “We take up contemporary themes, but we choreograph them in the Odissi format. My guru taught me that we have to keep evolving as an artiste,” she says.
‘Sookshma’, which premiered in April this year, is based on ‘A Flowering Tree’ written by A.K. Ramanujan, which revolves around Kannada folklore. It is about a woman who has the ability to transform into a flowering tree. “I chose the story because it is set in Karnataka and having lived there for long I thought it best to tell the story. Also it is a theme that is easy to understand. It extols the beauty of womanhood,” says Sharmila.
As she is getting ready with her new production to be staged next year, Sharmila says that she continues to hold fast to her guru’s style for various reasons. “It is graceful, lyrical and structured. It is technical as well. Therefore it takes time to master the dance form,” says Sharmila, who also works on productions with hearing impaired children. “I haven’t done any productions with them recently because my dance school takes a lot of my time. However, I want to work with them again. I believe that we should always give back to the society and this is my way of doing it,” she signs off.
