![\"Ramli](\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/theme\/images\/th-online\/1x1_spacer.png\" "\\"Ramli")
<\/picture><\/div>\nNrityantar presents its 13th edition of its Odissi dance festival, Naman 2024. \u201cOur effort is to bring together and showcase various styles and schools of Odissi dance and to pay tribute to the great gurus and pioneers for their invaluable contributions to this elegant art form,\u201d says Madhulita Mohapatra, the artistic director of Nrityantar Academy of Performing Arts. <\/p>\n
Her dance ensemble will present the dance drama, Siya Ram \u2026 the Eternal Saga<\/i>. Besides this, the festival will also feature the Sutra Dance Theatre from Malaysia, led by Ramli Ibrahim, who will also dance at Naman 2024. Speaking on phone from Malaysia, Ramli elaborates about Odissi, Naman 2024 and more. <\/p>\n
Edited excerpts.<\/b><\/p>\n \nStills from some of his dance choreographies <\/div>\n \nA file photo of Ramli\u2019s Odissi dance at an event in Chennai in 2019. <\/div>\n \nMadhulita Mohapatra, the artistic director of Nrityantar Academy of Performing Arts <\/div>\n Naman 2024 will be presented on September 1, 5pm at ADA Rangamandira, JC<\/i>\u00a0Road. Open to all.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/theme\/images\/th-online\/interview-quest-icon.svg\"\/){kind=icon}
\nYou learnt ballet and Bharatanatyam, but took to\u00a0Odissi. What about the form captivated you?<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/theme\/images\/th-online\/interview-ansr-icon.svg\"\/){kind=icon}
\nIn the \u201870s\u00a0Odissi was not popular and there was very little exposure to this dance form. The first time I even heard\u00a0Odissi was when I heard Odissi music by the late\u00a0Raghunath Panigrahi. His voice and music was so compelling that it stirred something within me. That was when I learned about Odissi and Sanjukta Panigrahi (dancer). I had a friend, who was just starting to learn\u00a0Odissi and I saw him dance the\u00a0Mangalacharan <\/i>and later the\u00a0Dashavataar <\/i>and fell in love with the form and decided to learn\u00a0Odissi. It was later when I met a dancer in Delhi that I discovered\u00a0Debaprasad\u2019s style of Odissi and was drawn to it.\n<\/p>\n
\nHow different was Debaprasad Das\u2019s style from that of Kelucharan
\nMohapatra?<\/p>\n
\nDebaprasadji\u2019s form is more Shaivite in nature, while Kelu Babu\u2019s\u00a0form, is based on the gotipua dance style. I also feel Debuji\u2019s style has an underlying touch of\u00a0tantrism. He is slightly more minimalist, and his style is austere with a Tandav quality that I find exciting.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Stills](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/incoming\/bimga3\/article68567895.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/03fr_Datuk_Ramli_Ibrahim.jpg\" "\\"Stills")
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\nSpecial Arrangement\n<\/p>\n
\nPandit Raghunath Panigrahi\u2019s voice was a constant at any\u00a0
\nOdissi dance recital. Would you say his singing contributed to the rise of\u00a0Odissi?<\/p>\n
\nDefinitely. His voice was one of the major attractions of\u00a0Odissi \u00a0dance. I did meet him and\u00a0Sanjukta Panigrahi many times and felt his\u00a0melifluous voice, in his earlier singing days, leaned towards the south Indian classical style. Later his voice had a strong swing towards\u00a0Hindustani. He has influenced a lot of singers in\u00a0Odissi.\n<\/p>\n
\nYou established an Indian classical dance school in Malaysia. Did you feel you were being unjust to their classical and folk forms?<\/p>\n
\nThere is no classical form in Malaysia, but court forms like\u00a0Joget Gamelan. They are not like classical dance forms of India that go back to the\u00a0Natyashashtra. <\/i>The challenge was to do something solo and I felt the Indian classical dance is the epitome of that challenge. Though I was doing ballet, I found, my one leg was in Indian classical dance. I did not feel promoting and\u00a0practising Indian classical did any injustice to Malaysian art forms as Chinese, Indian and other forms are part of the Malay fabric. It is in the tapestry of being diverse and multi-cultural. Indian classical dance forms have been a part of the art scene here.\n<\/p>\n
\nHow did you feel when you were awarded the\u00a0Padma Shri?<\/p>\n
\nIt was unexpected and I feel very honoured to be given one of the four highest civilian awards from India. I am the second Malaysian to get this award after\u00a0Janaky Athi Nahappan, who lived not very far from me. I thank the Indian government for this honour and feel the\u00a0ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations) is encouraging and doing a great job in promoting artistes who practice Indian art forms.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/incoming\/roz6po\/article68567896.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/PTI5_15_2019_000077B.jpg\" "\\"A")
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\nPTI\n<\/p>\n
\nAs a choreographer, what are the challenges or hurdles you work with when it comes to international collaborations?<\/p>\n
\nIn\u00a0Odissi, we collaborate with Indian artistes. It is the same with visual artistes as we run a gallery here. We have been promoting artistes from India for the last four decades. For dance, we have collaborated with\u00a0Madhavi Mudgal, Bichitrananda Swaine and my guru,\u00a0
\nGajendra Kumar Panda… they have all been invited to perform here. We collaborate for the dance, music, choreography, music, as everything has to be created from scratch. It has been a wonderful journey of collaboration and creation.\n<\/p>\n
\nYou have created dances based on the\u00a0Ramayana<\/i>, and on Indian mythological characters like Krishna. What is your approach and treatment to these as a dancer-choreographer?<\/p>\n
\nI try not to interfere with the basic vocabulary as a choreographer out of respect for the dance form itself. What I do is guide, in terms of artistic direction and how the work should go, which is done with the collaborators. Once we were done with the works of\u00a0Debaprasad\u2019s
\n\u00a0repertoire, we started to commission new works. These needed editing so the texture of the works was well-modulated. I am not into finding new ways of movement or presentation and metaphors. I do not want to underestimate my audience, who are rasikas
\n\u00a0who know and judge a work from the point of view of the excellence of dancing, message and presentation.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Madhulita](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/incoming\/25lcem\/article68575484.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/Madhulita%20Mohapatra%20pic%2001.jpg\" "\\"Madhulita")
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\nSpecial Arrangement\n<\/p>\n
\nYou are coming to\u00a0Bengaluru \u00a0for Naman\u00a02024, spearheaded by new-age\u00a0
\nOdissi dancer, Madhulita. What would you like to applaud about her work?<\/p>\n
\nI am huge fan of\u00a0Madhulita and think students trained from her school have made a strong mark when they perform. I always look forward to a performance by her students. Basically, the guru\u2019s style is dependent on who is dancing. The best dancer will bring out the best of the guru\u2019s work on the stage flawlessly. I think Indian dance is a dancer\u2019s dance, how the dancer brings out the best of the composition is seen in how well the dancer is trained and the interpretation transitions from pure dance to\u00a0abhinaya<\/i>.\n<\/p>\n