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Being steeped in a spiritual atmosphere in my early childhood, in a way, shaped my entire life. From the time that I was two, my father, an engineer who is also a griha sanyasi or a yogi, would read out verses to me from the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Gita. My mother enrolled me in a para (local area) dance school where I began learning Indian classical dance. Dance is a sacred art form and this combined with the spirituality that I imbibed in my childhood has taken my performances to a spiritual level and changed my life.
Born and raised in Calcutta, I learnt Kathak and Bharatnatyam from various gurus during my school days but it was only after completing my matriculation that I decided to specialise in Odissi. I was lucky to have had doyens like Padma Shri Mayadhar Raut and Padma Vibhushan Kelucharan Mohapatra as my gurus who took me under their wings and helped me master the dance form. However, the second turning point in my life happened when one day I decided to give up my job as group product manager of a pharmaceutical company and devote my life to dancing. It was a huge decision but I haven’t looked back since.
Another life-changing experience for me was performing at the prestigious Woodstock music festival, New York, in 2002. I got immense exposure there and began getting offers to perform at concerts all over the world. I also got an opportunity to serve as visiting professor at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, Hudson Valley, when I was just 35. Also, performing solo at Madison Square Garden, where greats like Michael Jackson have enthralled audiences was a memorable experience. It gave me a great sense of pride.
Today I travel through the year for concerts to conduct workshops and to deliver lectures at universities all over the world. I also train upcoming artists in Odissi at my institute, Sanchita Dance Foundation, which I founded in 2002. Right now, I am working in a film by director Karin Kaufman in which I play the protagonist. I am very excited about this project.
(As told to Lubna Salim)
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