PRIDE IN STRUGGLE

@bichitrabehera03

"As a son of a theatre artist, I was destined to come into the arts. My father visited Thakur Sri Sri abhiram paramhans Deva santhidham karamala and fell in love with gotipua and when I was barely 9 years old, he took me to Raghurajpur Heritage Village, Orissa to enroll me in the Gotipua school. 3 days later I realised that this is going to be my life and that is when tears wouldn’t stop rolling off my eyes missing my family. But soon enough I realised that there is no looking back. Thanks to the love I got from my Guru, Padma Shri Guru Maguni Charan Das and Kailash Biswal at my Gotipua school Dashabhuja Gotipua Odissi Nrutya Parishada.

My first performance was at the famous Kumbh Mela. After that all I remember was my life being in a complete discipline of waking up at 4 AM everyday, practicing music, gotipua exercises, dancing, managing my long hair. In gotipua the boys dress as girls so we are not allowed to cut our hair till we stop dancing. Well, It was nothing before travelling sitting next to the general compartment toilet for most of the times I remember. When I was 12 I got chance to stay in Germany for 8 months and all I can recall is the surprise of a small village boy like me to sit in an aeroplane and finally eat whatever I had dreamt of.

Soon I saw the item “Konark Kranti” being performed by male odissi dancers and was astonished by the masculinity in grace. That is when I decided to go to Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyala and Utkal University of culture and started my odissi journey. My life would not have been like this had I not been in Rudrakshya today. Guruji’s life inspires me so much in dance and outside dance. My vision in odissi is to have a unique style that I can call of my own. I was lucky to lead a gurukul life but today’s aspiring dancers are not that fortunate. All I can say is Just like how you never forget to bow your head in front of god , you can’t forget to visit this temple of dance each and every day. This self made gurukul is the biggest gift that we as dancers can gift ourselves"