By Express News Service KOCHI: If you are a passionate artist, you must do all you can to preserve the art and keep it alive,” says Madhulita Mohapatra, the Bengaluru-based Odissi dancer who performed recently in the city. She and her Nrityantar Dance Ensemble were at Ganesham in Thycaud as part of the ongoing Soorya festival.The eight-member team brought to life the tragic, immortal love story of Mirza and Sahiba through meticulous moves. Accompanying their performance was a folk beat that began with an invocatory piece on Shiva ‘Shivam Dhimahi’. Following this, the dancers stepped on to the stage, raised the energy with some fast-paced movements and caught the attention of every member of the audience. Born in Bhawanipatna, Kalahandi district in Odisha, Madhulita was always interested in Sambalpuri folk. Post marriage, Madhulita moved to Bengaluru and that is when her life-long dream of being an Odissi dancer got a platform. Soon, she started ‘Nrityantar Academy of Performing Arts’, an institution that trains almost 250 students in the traditional art form. Madhulita also teaches abroad. The artist and her dance school have been trying to popularise Odissi in South India. She has been blending it with folk components, especially Sambalpuri from western Orissa. “I started dancing at the age of five but no dance institutes were teaching Odissi at the time. When I was 19, the first school opened in Bhawanipatna and out of my passion for classical dance, I decided to learn the Odisha-based art form. Once I started, there was no going back,” she remembers. Madhulita started under the guidance of Guru Gangadhar Pradhan and is currently getting trained under Guru Aruna Mohanty. Noted for her choreography skills and contemporary experiments, Madhulita is a recipient of the prestigious Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar from the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi and the Karnataka State award-Kempegowda Award 2019. She also spearheads ‘Naman’, an annual Odissi festival where she and the team bring together varied styles of the art. “Dance is my life and I would like to do my best to impart the charm of these art forms to the new generation,” she concludes.

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