Odissi dancer Subhadha. Telegraph Picture

Bhubaneswar, March 23: Choosing Odissi above everything else, danseuse Subhadha has carved a niche for herself. Recipient of the Mahari Award for 2011, the Mumbai-based dancer is known for her innovative productions and stirring performances in India and abroad.

Coming from an academic background, Subhadha was attracted towards performing arts as a child. Balancing academics and her passion, she started learning dancing at a young age.

“While I was thinking on which dance form to pursue, I came across an enchanting performance by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. I was left awestruck and spellbound,” she said.

In her teenage, Subhadha approached the revered guru to learn the nuances of Odissi.

“Despite his grand stature, accepted to train me,” she said.

She started taking classes whenever her teacher was in Mumbai and also visited Bhubaneswar and Cuttack for the training.

“The most amazing part of Odissi is the beautiful combination of nritya and abhinaya. It has beautiful postures of dancing sculptures from ancient temples as well as a great use of facial expressions,” she said.

Subhadha holds a master’s degree in economics. She also worked as a lecturer at a college in Mumbai. But she felt, classical dance, mainly Odissi, was her first love.

“I thought a lot and then found out that I’m a performer and being on stage gives me great satisfaction,” she said.

She went on to perform at major dance festivals all over the country and abroad including the Ellora festival, cultural events in Delhi, Prayag, Hyderabad, London, Paris, Germany. She also conducts workshops and teaches dance at various cultural foundations.

Receiving the Mahari award has been the most thrilling event of her life, she says. “Named after the revered Guru Pankaj Charan Das, Mahari is considered a major award for Odissi dancers. I’m humbled at having received it,” said Subhadha.

After receiving rave response for her productions such as Kanupriya based on Dharmavir Bharti’s poetry and other compositions on Sant Dhyaneswar’s writings, she is currently working on Rabindranath Tagore’s literature. “I feel there is a great depth in the literature of Gurudev. While I reading some of his works, it struck me that they could be magical if transformed into Odissi compositions,” she said.