For Madhusmita Mohanty and Ramesh Jena, it has been almost more than 20 years of togetherness. The bond that began as a friendship mellowed into a lifelong partnership — the artistes gained recognition as a renowned dancer pair much before they became real-life couple. Performing at places in duets as Parvati and Shiva, Radha and Krishna and Sita and Rama, the twosome has wowed audience with sheer grace of feminine and masculinity packaged in perfect tandem.And both the dancers complement each other and re-enliven the magnificent sculptures chiseled in the ancient temples of India.
Madhusmita, now 38, and Ramesh, three years elder to her, struck the right chord first with the audience 13 years ago. That was in 1998, when they danced Haragourastaka (a Shiva-Parvati dance-drama) to the choreography of Guru Bichitrananda Swain of Orissa Dance Academy at the Konark Dance Festival. “There were some performers from abroad. One of them passed on a chit to my hands and Ramesh’s too. I looked at my paper that read ‘To my dearest Parvati’ and Ramesh found his to be ‘To my dearest Shiva’. The chits still remain with us as our first recognition as a couple,” says Madhusmita who tied the nuptial knot with Ramesh in 2002.
Chips in Ramesh, “People took us to be real-life couple much before our marriage. We were so comfortable with each other that we never felt any inhibition striking the most difficult of poses in a duet choreography.” The couple is also known for items like Manini and Konark Lasyaleela. Apart from performing duets, they also do solo.
While Madhusmita is a Singarmani awardee (Sur Singar Samsad, Mumbai in 1994) and Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar awardee (Central Sangeet Natak Akademi 2007), Ramesh is an ICCR and Doordarshan-empanelled Grade-A artiste. Both teach at their alma mater: Orissa Dance Academy.
“We teach at the academy on a voluntary basis,” says Madhusmita. Under the tutelage of late Odissi exponent Gangadhar Pradhan, the two have assimilated style, tradition and values from various gurus like Bichitrananda Swain, Aruna Mohanty and Kanduri Charan Behera, and have created a niche for themselves.
Inspired by the Reddys, Dhananjayans and Shridhars, all classical dancer couples of repute, both the performers agree that despite no conflicts they are the greatest critics of each other. “Being critical of each other helps us learn and improvise our performances,” says Ramesh, who is also an expert in art direction, stage craft and lighting. He tries his hands at choreography too. The couple has a five-year-old daughter who practices with parents and accompanies them to performances.
True, their dancing journey has been happy besides bouts of depression due to financial problems. Says Madhusmita: “The number of performances and remuneration there of cannot help us survive. I have at times thought of joining a full-time job to ease financial pressure. But at such junctures suddenly we get real good opportunities to dance. That reinforces my faith on dance.”
Madhusmita and Ramesh attribute their entry into the dance world to their respective families. While Madhusmita’s father was a flautist and mother a dancer, Ramesh’s father was a Gotipua dancer.
“I started learning Odissi at the age of 7 and joined the academy in 1984 where Ramesh was my senior. It was never love at first sight. Ramesh was an introvert but I admired his dancing prowess, which very few male dancers have,” says Madhusmita. Adds her husband: “It so happened that on seeing our equal zest and passion for dance, our gurus while choreographing duets, particularly love stories, kept the two of us in mind. So, it was like being made for each other since the beginning, though we married much later.”