Forging cultural alliances
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Mitali Dev is enthused about promoting Odissi in the U.K. where she is based.
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I want to show the audience how beautiful and lyrical Odissi is. It is not only lasya or eroticism, it goes much deeper. I am totally into Odissi. Danseuse Mitali Dev
It was Bharatnatyam that first enthused the dancer in Mitali Dev. But she soon got converted to Odissi. But when one talks to her it is not the zeal of a neo-convert but the passionate commitment of one born to Odissi that strikes one.
A Bengali based in Malaysia, Mitali began her training in Odissi with Ramli Ibrahim at Sutra Theatre at Kuala Lampur but soon she left Sutra and came under the tutelage of Guru Giridhari Patnaik, Guru Gajendra Panda and celebrated dancer Madhvi Mudgal. But it was as if Guru Kelucharan gharana was her niche and today she trains under Sujata Mohapatra at Srjan the Odissi institution founded by the late Guru.
"Although I started under Guru Debaprasad Das style I felt I was more attuned to Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra style," says the artiste. After her marriage in the early Nineties there was a hiatus of about eight years when she had to take care of the family and bring up her twin sons. They are ten year old today and Mitali gives her husband and sons the credit for bringing her back to dance. Based in U.K., Mitali has forged a North West dance alliance with some other dancers that combines Odissi with Bharatnatyam and Mohiniattam. "We promote Indian culture through dance," she says. But Mitali is far from happy about the recognition that a wonderful dance form like Odissi has in U.K.. "I want to establish myself as a good solo dancer and that would help me focus on Odissi dance propagation in the U.K.," says Mitali who is an active organiser of the proposed Odissi festival in Fall, next year.
"Bharatnatyam is quite well entrenched and even Kathak. But I want to show the audience how beautiful and lyrical Odissi is. It is not only lasya or eroticism, it goes much deeper," exults Mitali and is effusive about Orissa's culture in its totality. Mitali, who practices for three hours everyday, is very particular to keep her Bharatnatyam and Odissi part. "When I do Bharatnatyam it is 100% Bharatnatyam. There is no corruption. But I am not pursuing both the forms. I am totally into Odissi," she says.
After having danced at the Angkor Wat festival in Cambodia, on the agenda is starting an Odissi school.
At the moment she is totally charged up about giving Odissi the prominence it deserves in England, specifically Manchester where she is settled.
B.M.
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