Dancing To The Mother-Daughter Odissi Duet

Dancing To The Mother-Daughter Odissi Duet

Back in 2013 in Bhubaneswar during the Odissi International Festival, the third annual union of the global Odissi family featuring dancers and delegates from 15 countries, the audience witnessed the flawless performance of a 3 year old. The audience comprised the likes of Minati Mishra, world’s oldest Odissi performer from Switzerland and other internationally acclaimed stars like Aruna Mohanty, Sujata Mohapatra, Meera Das, Rahul Acharya and Lingaraj Pradhan. Guru Ratikanta Mohapatra was the one who gave her a standing ovation after her first performance, teary eyed. The little girl was Shrinika Purohit, draped in Odissi attire, looking like a doll, was a special treat for all. After Shrinika’s performance, Minati Mishra exclaimed that the child was ‘God’s gift to Odissi’.

Today, this 12-year-old Bengaluru-based prodigy has performed on various prestigious stages, including the India International Dance Festival and International Odissi Festival. Not just in India, the young danseuse has mesmerised the audience in several shows in Singapore, Japan, and the USA, where she is more popularly known as the ‘Wonder Kid of Odissi’. Following her mother’s footsteps, Shrinika has been living her passion along with her mother, Sonalika Purohit. When the duo perform on stage, it is sheer poetry in motion. They share a passion for Odissi and a mission to mesmerise audiences all over the world with their graceful performances. My City Links got into a freewheeling chat with the mother-daughter duo to know about their dance journey.

Sharing The Same Passion

The relationship between a mother and her daughter is truly special. A strong mother-daughter bond is the one in which commonalities and similar traits are shared. Such is the bond between Sonalika and Shrinika. Hailing from a family that prioritises art in various forms, Sonalika had received Odissi training since her early days of childhood. Soon after her marriage and seeing the same passion in her daughter, Shrinika, she took up Odissi as a career path. Today she teaches Odissi and has her own dance academy, Ekaagra Svarasa Academy in Bengaluru, where she trains kids as well as adults. For her, teaching dance is not just a profession but a living passion that she enjoys everyday.

The coming of Shrinika into Sonalika’s life was a turning point that commenced her journey as a full time devotee of dance. Starting from imitating her mother to acing the steps with accuracy, Shrinika is now firmly and swiftly on the path to become an accomplished Odissi dancer. 

“Right from the very beginning, Shrinika had a natural flair for dance that could not be ignored. She was always exposed to dance, as my mother, aunt and I are dancers. She must have experienced it in the womb itself, as I used to practise when I was pregnant with her. She is so confident that she started performing on-stage since she was 3 years old, absolutely fearless and graceful. One can say that she was born for dance,” says Sonalika.

“She was two-month-old when I started my rehearsals, so she used to be into music for a longer time in the day. She understood music when she was very small. When she grew up, she started copying me like all the other kids do, they copy their parents. She was deeply in love with Odissi music and dance. She used to stop crying while watching the Odissi dance videos,” she adds.

Shrinika adds, “I used to run on the stage after my mother’s performances. I feel free on the stage and never get nervous. I love the stage and feel it’s my playground. I was just 3 years-old when the Gurujan of Odissi (Minati Mishra) named me a Wonder Kid.”

Sonalika believes in maintaining the sanctity and purity of the dance form and in Shrinika she sees that prodigy who does justice to her teachings. Apart from the duo’s graceful moves, what keeps the audience enthralled is the beautiful bond that the mother and daughter share.

The First Duet

Since Shrinika was a baby, nothing seemed to bring her more joy than dance. When family and friends saw the little wonder dancing, they would often suggest to Sonalika that the mother-daughter duo should consider performing together. Sonalika adds, “Odissi dance is like a wave. In any Odissi performance, you would generally see duet performances- either a couple, or it’s two girls or two boys who have a similar physique. But in our case, when Shrinika was a kid and I, a tall lady, I couldn’t really comprehend how it would turn out. But then I thought to give it a try. And although we had a difference in height in physique, it turned out well.” That was the first time Sonalika and Shrinika performed in Pushkar, Rajasthan.

Sonalika fondly reminisces, “I positioned her ahead of me so that she would be visible to the audience and I was a little behind. Somehow, by God’s grace each and every movement was in sync- our steps, our bodies, and the eyes- all in perfect sync like a perfect wave.”

“Fast forward today, she has reached up to my height and we sync really well. Each move is beautifully synchronised and it feels so fulfilling,” she adds. 

When Your Family Has Your Back

Sonalika’s husband and Shrinika’s father, Srimanta Purohit, is a devoted family man who encourages them to excel and bring out their best potential. He believes that for an artist, appreciation and encouragement matter the most than any form or amount of remuneration. 

“Having the support and encouragement of family is very crucial and it gives the artist on stage that stability of mind and confidence. Every small support is a contributing factor to what you see on stage,” asserts Sonalika.

Shrinika’s younger brother, Shriansh, is also an outgoing student and often emulates his mother and sister in their Odissi moves. He is now into Hip-hop and gymnastics training and enjoys it. The family often takes short family trips in and around Bangalore, where they live, whenever possible. All four of them love the outdoors, and nature photography. Apart from dance, they spend quality time together as a family by doing yoga, taking long walks, and preparing traditional delicacies during festivals.

“My husband and I try to avoid any sort of gender stereotypes while interacting with our kids. Both of them were free to choose toys or clothes of any colour from early on. We did not impose any sort of compulsion on them. Eventually, seeing Shrinika and my practice, our son, too, showed interest in learning dance, and we all encouraged him to do so. However, training for classical dance is tough, and he’s still young. If he wants to pursue dance seriously, we will definitely support him,” shared Sonalika.

A Responsible Student

Besides her ingrained talent of being a fantastic Odissi dancer, Shrinika puts in lots of hard work as well. She keeps up with a self-made daily routine with school, homework, dance practice, and playtime. Having a mother-teacher like Sonalika makes it even more special. Her mother emphasises this, “The rigours of classical dance teach you discipline and hard work. She started young and has managed to balance studies and dance well so far. My husband and I don’t pressure her to excel in either of them. But Shrinika manages her time well. And it’s not only dance and studies, she plays, watches the television and does yoga and gymnastics too! She’s fond of drawing and does excellent pencil shading. She is a perfectionist and responsible child.”

As a child, Shrinika looked up to her mother and emulated her in all aspects. Since Sonalika herself was a scientist and had discontinued her career to concentrate wholly on her family, Shrinika too aspired to become a scientist when she grew up. “Yes, I did want to become a scientist but now I am rethinking my career path. I think I still need time and more knowledge before I can really decide what my future prospects should be,” shares the chirpy kid.

Sonalika adds, “As she is growing, each day she is introduced to new aspects of life. Being a curious and active kid, she often has discussions with me and her father about various topics that tickle her interest. It is a joy seeing your child slowly grow and have the ability to start thinking about herself.”

The mother-daughter duo have also taken up yoga and regularly practise gymnastics and exercise. Their fondness for yoga came during the pandemic. They believe it helps to keep their body agile while improving their postures in dance.

Teacher’s Adorable Pet

Disciplined and obedient as she is, Shrinika credits her success and fruitful learning to her gurus. She even gets guided by her mother’s (Sonalika’s) gurus in Odissi. “Guru Sundarlal Patel, Guru Sikata Das and Guru Pranati Mohanty are my teachers and they guide Shrinika as well and the way she pays heed to each instruction and implements them beautifully, it is fulfilling. Even they enjoy teaching and guiding her,” shares Sonalika.

A Memorable Performance

Sonalika reminisces that their performance at the Isha Yoga Foundation, Coimbatore was a huge success and they really enjoyed performing there. Other than that, they had performed Krishna Leela in Durgapur (West Bengal) where the audience just erupted with joy. “There was an electric atmosphere inside the auditorium that day with people applauding and cheering for a long time! That was one of the performances that encouraged us to hone our craft more and perform better. If not for the pandemic, we would have performed in many places outside the country, too. We recently performed virtually for shows in the US and UK where we were supposed to travel and perform, but thanks to the covid protocols, we couldn’t,” she adds.

For Shrinika, it was their performance at Dharwad, Karnataka that was a memorable one. “In 2019, my mom and I went to Dharwad for a performance. At the end of the performance, the audience gave a standing ovation to her mesmerising performance. Later, an elderly lady came backstage. Teary-eyed, all she could say was that our performance on Yashoda and Krishna’s childhood banter had made her so emotional that she could barely talk. She gave me some money as a blessing as she was enthralled by my performance. I was touched by her words and will never forget that incident,” chirped Shrinika.

A budding star-in-the-making, Shrinika is a child prodigy sure to make Odisha as well as India proud.