Odissi is her favourite dance form. Twelve-year-old Tanisha Tanushree has carved a niche for herself in the field of classical dance. She is a popular name in the state as a soloist and as a repertoire dancer of the highly acclaimed institution, Orissa Dance Academy. She has also performed duets on a few occasions with her mother who is also an accomplished dancer. Recipient of the junior scholarship, Tanisha is known for her graceful movements and stirring performances in many cultural programmes across the state. She made her debut in the Odissi International Festival-2015. She was a finalist in the dance-based reality show Noopur-Junior. Her performances in different dance festivals like Bimohana – Future Faces and Aradhana Samman Utsav-2016 have been greatly appreciated. In a tete-a-tete with Orissa POST, she speaks about her inspirations and aspirations.
Born to Odissi dancers Madhusmita Mohanty and Ramesh Chandra Jena, Tanisha was attracted towards Odissi from her childhood. Her mother Madhusmita says, “She has inherited her skill from us as we are both professional Odissi dancers. She was only six or seven months when I spotted her matching steps to different rhythms. She went with us for a programme in the US when she was barely 18 months old. During our stay there, one day I spotted her imitating my steps quite successfully. That day I decided to enroll her in Odissi Dance Academy. However, it was too early to join a training institution, therefore, I started teaching her the basics of Odissi at home. She joined the Academy after she turned three. Tanisha has been learning under the tutelage of Odissi exponent Guru Aruna Mohanty, but we are guiding her at home too.”
Recalling a special moment, Madhusmita said, “I got an opportunity to meet three-time Grammy award winner and Bharat Ratna the late Pandit Ravi Shankar thanks to Tanisha. The sitar maestro was a friend of our landlord. When our landlord met Shankar, he praised Tanisha so much that one day the maestro came to our landlord’s place to meet my daughter. That has been the biggest moment of my life so far. I must say she connects music, movements and emotions very well.”
On being asked about her most cherished moment, Tanisha says, “I was performing at Odissi International. An art connoisseur who was present at the function was so overwhelmed by my performance that he wanted to felicitate me with an award dedicated to his father. It was really an honour for me to be felicitated in the presence of the doyens of Odissi.”
She continues: “I also cannot forget the moment when Guru Aruna Mohanty hugged me at the end of my performance at Odissi International Festival and blessed me saying, ‘You have a bright future ahead.’ I also got similar appreciation from Guru Sujata Mohapatra.”
Tanisha loves performing duets with her mother. She says, “I love and enjoy performing with my mother. So far, we have performed together five times. But I cannot forget my first duet performance with her. One of the judges of the Noopur reality show invited us to perform together in a programme ‘Kalanjali’ hosted by him. While I was happy and excited to perform with my mom, I was also a little nervous because dancing with such an eminent Odissi artiste was challenging for me. Thank God, I lived up to the expectation of the audience and my parents. The performance was not only loved, it got a standing ovation from the gallery. I have performed with my mother in festivals like Kalanjali, Barnali Samaroh and Odissi International Festival.”
Tanisha’s dream is to perform with both her parents on stage. “I am looking forward to performing with my parents,” she says, adding, “In 2017, I got the junior scholarship award at the CCRT scholarship function where I performed my father’s composition titled ‘Dekha Kadamba Mule Basichhi Kie’ and it was applauded. I would like to perform the same composition again with my dad and mom.”
About her favourite Odissi dancer, Tanisha who has received the title of Odissi Prativa in the Odissi International Festival, 2015 and has also been awarded in honour of Sri AK Biswal for her performance in 2017, says, “Apart from my parents, I love the performance of Guru Aruna Mohanty, Guru Sujata Mohapatra and Guru Bichitrananda Swain. All of them have their own unique style.”
RASHMI REKHA DAS, OP