With precise hand gestures that strike just the right angles, Odissi virtuoso Madhulita Mohapatra enters the stage with an unmissable expression of joy. Adorned in an ice blue sari, her body movements feel like those of a medieval temple sculpture come to life. Featuring three compositions, her recent recital, Bhava and Bhakti, began with a pallavi in devotion of Lord Jagannath, followed by an abhinaya piece from Geeta Govinda, and finally, a composition on Lord Vishnu. “For me, productions never end but keep evolving like one’s understanding of the divine. Here, it is less about the story and more about reflection, surrender, and devotion,” says the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar awardee, who was joined by her senior disciples Sahana R Maiya and Paridhi Joshi on stage.
“As a child, I was drawn towards Odissi and would sit glued to the television whenever Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and Sanjukta Panigrahi appeared on Doordarshan, trying to mimic their grace in my own little ways,” Madhulita reminisces. “Learning Odissi felt like a dream as my hometown in Odisha had no classical dance schools. Although I entered an Odissi classroom at 19, the dance had been living within me for long,” she says. After marriage and moving to Bengaluru, Madhulita followed her passion and began teaching Odissi to children at her home, which grew into Nrityantar, her dance institute.
An intermingling of the fluid and the sculptural stands as the hallmark of Odissi classical dance. According to Madhulita, its beauty lies in the harmony between rhythm and stillness. While mentoring, she stresses on developing stability through foundational Odissi postures such as Tribhanga and Chownk. With her students, she works on seamless transitions and breathwork so that movements do not feel mechanical. The lyrical quality of Odissi, Madhulita says, cannot be forced but only emerges when the dancer’s heart is involved. She adds, “It is born out of shraddha and bhava—the feeling of devotion that turns dance into worship. I encourage my students to go beyond technique, understand the emotion behind every move, and think of their moves like poetry.”
Every movement of the limbs in Odissi is accentuated with expressions of the face or mukhabhinaya. “While the body gives structure to the dance, it is the face that gives it soul. Even a simple eye glance can speak volumes,” Madhulita says. The dancer masters the profound expression of being in awe of the divine—not showing the wonder externally but feeling it deep inside. For her, the expression of becoming one with the divine is a sacred experience which Odissi allows a dancer to live. Madhulita lives Odissi as a way of life and worships it as her guiding light. For her, the dance is sadhana—a spiritual practice where movement and expression culminate in a sense of surrender and joy. She says, “Through Odissi, I find peace, purpose, and a connection to the divine within. It is my offering to my Gurus, Lord Jagannath, and to the art itself.”