As Keiko Okano steps onto the stage, resplendent in a white, green and gold sari, there is a hush in the auditorium. Her thick kohl-rimmed eyes mesmerise the audience with a multitude of emotions. Through the 90-minute show, the Japan native, who has been practicing Mohiniyattam for the past 20 years, holds the auditorium in Kochi spellbound.
It began by accident. Sometime in 2004, Okano came across classes in music and dance on the top floor of a supermarket. She noticed a flyer that announced a Mohiniyattam class. Intrigued, the Tokyo native enrolled in it. “Mohiniyattam was different from what I imagined it to be,” said Keiko. What started as a chance encounter evolved into a five-year training under Hiromi Maruhashi, who had done a short course in Kerala Kalamandalam at Cheruthuruthy, Thrissur.
Okano’s life changed when she met Mohiniyattam exponent Nirmala Paniker at Hakushu, Yamanashi Prefecture (150 km from Tokyo) in 2008, and attended a three-hour workshop at Tokyo. “I was the only student who knew something about the art form. Guru Nirmala was thrilled about it,” says Okano.
A year later, she travelled to Kerala to attend the annual Mohiniyattam dance festival at Natanakairali—a research, training and performing centre for traditional arts at Irinjalakuda near Kochi—founded by Paniker and her husband G Venu, a Koodiyattam master. Impressed by what she saw, in May 2010, Okano began a six-month-long training under Paniker at Irinjalakuda. Since then, she has been coming every year to train under her. She performed her arangetram (debut performance), on December 30, 2018, and has not linked back since. Talking about it, the artiste says, “I gained a lot of confidence after my debut act and even the attitude of the locals changed towards me. Still, there are many who are shocked at the fact that a foreign national is practicing an Indian art form.”
The guru points out that her Japanese student’s strongest asset is the flexibility of her body. “She also has a high level of concentration and a desire and dedication to be an excellent artist,” says Paniker, who admires Okano for making the effort to transcend cultures. “Kerala’s culture is so different from that of Japan. Keiko is gradually steeping herself into it, unlike many who only learn the dance form, but don’t understand the culture. In fact, she is learning Malayalam, too,” the teacher smiles.
Besides performing across Kerala, Okano has also showcased her skills in Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, and of course, her native city, Tokyo. How does the layman in Tokyo relate to an Indian dance form?
“They have rarely seen such performances, so I make it a point to explain the stories behind each act before the dance. This way, they can understand and appreciate it better,” says Okano, who wants to propagate the dance form in Japan.