The Guru’s Legacy: Sharmila Mukerjee on Learning from Kelucharan Mohapatra

Guruji (Padma Vibhushan Sri.Kelucharan Mohapatra) was a hard taskmaster and extremely strict in class but outside class he was a different person, very warm and affectionate with his students. He gave 100 percent and expected the student also to give 100 percent back which is the ideal Guru Shishya Parampara.

We students were very fortunate that we went and did residential classes /workshops in Cuttack /Bhubaneswar as there was so much to learn from him in class and outside class. His dedication, hard work, passion and spirituality …touched each and every student he taught. There was no time constraints where he was concerned regarding teaching or rehearsing. One could not tell him “Guruji , I have another commitment, I need to leave early”, that was simply not done , unlike today where students have so much time constraints.

He was demanding as a Guru and a choreographer/Director and he lost his temper if the student did not reciprocate in the same way by working hard. He was extremely particular about the technical aspects of the dance form and I remember we used to practice only the torso movement for hours .One abhinaya piece used to take a month to learn in a workshop…those days there were a month long workshops which is practically impossible nowadays. The workshops used to be from morning till night with a couple of hours break for lunch .In his residence the classes used to go on till early hours of morning…sometimes 1 a.m even 2 a .m.

My memory of Guruji when I first went to his house in Cuttack to do a residential workshop at night he came and tied the mosquito net for me after class was over. I will never forget that. He must have been more tired than I was after a rigorous class from morning till night.

He would not allow anyone to dance casually.

If anyone was unwell or injured and requested if they could dance “lightly “ at the back, he would tell them to sit down and watch or dance with full energy.

Music and dance are inter related. Music inspires the dancer and dance cannot exist without music. The ragas in Hindustani and Carnatic Music play a very important role as Odissi Dance uses a blend of both. I have also experimented with Western classical music in my adaptation of SWANLAKE (Hansika) in which the music composition and direction was done by Praveen D Rao who used Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Swans to blend into Indian ragas like Hamsadhwani and Mohana. The music in Odissi needs to be very lyrical and for me it’s very important that it is catchy and something I can sing along with and that it stays etched in my memory. The talks also play a very important role and various talas can be used in a choreography to make it more interesting.

Today whatever I am is because of my Guru , Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra (Padma vibhushan) and I am extremely grateful to having had the opportunity to have done my Odissi training under his guidance 🙏