Meera Das: I love how Hyderabad has a knack for all art forms

Acclaimed

Odissi

dancer,

Meera Das

enthralled dance enthusiasts in Hyderabad recently. Titled ‘Gunjan Sandhya’, the Odissi festival held at

Shilparamam

saw the accomplished soloist and innovative choreographer from Odisha transcending the audience to a sublime state with her graceful expressions and outstanding improvisations. Performing with her troupe for the first time in Hyderabad, the disciple of Odissi proponent Kelucharan Mohapatra, Meera performed the five quintessential segments of Odissi —

Mangalacharan

, Batu, Pallavi, Nritya and Abhinaya, but tweaked them with her artistry to give it a fresh look.

“In all of my performances, I try to keep the basic ideals, style and grammar of my guru (Kelucharan Mohapatra) intact. And the one in Hyderabad too wasn’t any different. But to give the recital a fresh look for my audience, I added my own elements to it and the feedback I got was inspiring. For instance, in place of Mangalacharan, the opening segment of a recital, I rephrased it to Jaganatha Mangalam. I did the same with Abhinaya, the last segment, and named in Desh Abhinaya in which I told the story of Ahalya, the wife of sage Gautama Maharishi, with a melody based on Desh raag,” says Meera.

Besides being an Odissi dancer, Meera is also a successful music composer and vocalist. The multi-talented artiste usually takes it upon herself to compose background scores for her choreographies and whenever a need arises, lends her voice to them too. “The melody in Jaganatha Mangalam was sung by me and I also conceptualised the background score for Abhinaya. I am not a trained singer but by God’s grace, I think I did a good job,” she says.

She isn’t new to Hyderabad and has performed in the city many a time before. “I love how Hyderabad has a knack for all art forms. It is always a pleasure to perform in front of an artistically literate audience. The way people came backstage to congratulate me and the feedback I received was something I will never forget,” she says, adding that she always looks forward to perform in the city.