The sparkle in her large expressive eyes, the animated gestures and the poise, all vividly describe her love for the dance form. It won’t be an exaggeration to say she talks, walks, sleeps, dreams and breathes Odissi. Mumbai-based Odissi danseuse Jhelum Paranjape’s commitment to the dance form saw her being awarded the Sanjukta Panigrahi National Award - for continuous effort towards the spread of Odissi.
Jhelum was recently in the City for the Sanjukta-Raghunath Panigrahi festival of dance and music. She performed a solo recital based on the poetry of Saint Choka Mela in Marathi.
Spreading the form
“I remember performing Odissi on a Marathi song with my Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra occupying the first row of the seats in the audience. He did not speak to me for the next few days. When Guru Ma insisted that he should either scold or shout at me if he didn’t like what I did instead of keeping mum, Guruji had said he liked the choreography but wasn’t comfortable with the music,” she says. Jhelum took this route to popularise the dance form among her Marathi audience. “It is difficult for the Mumbai audience to relate to Odissi music and the Sanskrit slokas. I wanted them to identify with the form and accept it as their own while enjoying its beauty. Guruji understood my intentions and I had his blessings,” she says.
While she used ‘Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo’for ‘Mangalacharan’, her male dancers danced to drum beats in ‘Tandav’. Giving oneself to the country is the ultimate ‘Moksha’, she says about the final piece of the programme. which she had choreographed on popular Hindi number, ‘Mangala, Mangala’. She never tampered with the idioms of Odissi while experimenting with Marathi and Hindi songs.
Inspiration Sanjukta
Sanjukta Panigrahi, she says, has been the biggest inspiration in her dancing career. “I had watched her perform in Mumbai and was floored by her graceful movements. During one of my tours with Rashtra Seva Dal Kalapathak to Cuttack, I had attended Guruji’s workshop,” she says. She got hooked to the fluidity of the dance and the lyricism of the music. ‘’My Aie (mother) had earlier made two failed attempts to enroll me into classical dance classes. But I did not enjoy them but continued performing dance ballets under the direction of noted poet Vasant Bapat and tutelage of Ramesh Purav,” she says. She started learning Odissi under Shankar Behera after completing her MSc. “I took up a job in a college to fund my interest,” she says.
Guru Kelucharan
It was her Guru who advised her to travel to Odisha and learn the dance form from Kelucharan Mohapatra. ‘’I remember attending a workshop of Guruji in Mumbai when my son was only four-month-old. I was still breastfeeding him. I would take a bus to my aunt’s house which was close to the workshop venue and drop him there. Come back during lunch break, feed him and go back to the class with Aie attending to him,” she says.
Support in Aie
The dedication would have remained incomplete without the support of her Aie. “She was the lead dancer of Rashtra Seva Dal Kalapathak and many say my dance career was her surrogate ambition,” she says.
It was dance that helped her get out of the loss of her dearest friend, Smita Patil. “I remember, I didn’t cry at all, but then I didn’t do anything at all either. Aie was concerned. I was not dancing. Then, on her own and with help from her dear RSD, she organised a programme,” she says. It did the trick and she was back on stage doing what she loved the most, Odissi. Jhelum and Smita, both performed for Rashtra Seva Dal Kalapathak and had also enrolled for Odissi classes together.
It was when she suffered a slipped disc, the concept of Smitalay took roots in her mind. “I was concerned what if I could no longer dance. The institute encourages all to learn the dance form irrespective of their physical attributes and financial condition,” she says.
Remembering legend
While they celebrate the annual day every year on October 17 which happens to be Smita Patil’s birthday, all students gather at the school and dance continuously for three to four hours before the photograph of Sanjukta Panigrahi on her death anniversary on June 24. “On her 10th death anniversary, we danced for almost 10 hours,” she says.
Jhelum had her lesson on humility from her Sanjukta Nani. “In Russia, after an item, she quickly came to the wings and held Guruji’s feet - please forgive me for the mistake today. I witnessed this,” she says.
Her fondness for the Panigrahi family often brings her back to Odisha. “While Sanjukta Nani was a reserve person, Raghu Bhaina is lively and would talk, talk and talk. He had even composed music for one of my productions, Uma,” she says.