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A spiritual odyssey

Masako measures every thought or word before it is given a clear, lucid representation with just the right amount of feeling, says P. SUJATHA VARMA

Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar

The world is shrinking into a global village. We have come to recognize that cultures need to be understood in their own terms. There is enough interest for us to take it seriously and do something about it. Exchange of culture, in a way, is all about learning tolerance and acceptance of both yourself and others.

Masako Ono of Japan shows the way. Young and dynamic, the style of this Japanese beauty creates a sudden burst of electric energy. Her mere presence charges the air, as her brilliant smile lights it up.

Ispiration

Inspired by a videotape of a dance performance by renowned Odissi exponent, Kelucharan Mohapatra in Tokyo, Masako instantly knew where she ought to be heading and lost no time in flying down to India and join Nrityagram, the dance village started by noted Odissi danseuse, the late Protima Bedi, in 1996.

She extended her stay in Orissa for further training in Odissi under big names like Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Guru Ramani Ranjan Jena, Guru Bichitrananda Swain and Guru Naba Kishore Mishra. She has performed and given lecture-demonstrations in India, Japan and Sri Lanka.

She started dancing at the age of five under Yokoi Masako, the only Japanese modern dance graduate from the Martha Graham Dance School, USA. She also underwent training in western classical ballet at the Matsuyama ballet, Tokyo and jazz and hip hop at the K-Broadway Dance Center, also in Tokyo. In a world where every second person hits the skids, Masako is at an exalted level where tranquility is a natural state. She was not born this way. It's just that dance happened to her and she practiced and honed its nuances to perfection. The danseuse has indeed, made her mark.

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