Odissi danseuse Prachi Hota has over two decades of training that she is using not just to stay fit but also teach the art form online.

About 15 months ago, an online dance recital was quite unthinkable. Today however, it has become the norm. The pandemic has not just moved most dance festivals online but also has had dancers pick up new skills. And Prachi Hota is an artiste who has reinvented the wheel to keep her craft relevant.

For someone who started training in Odissi dance at the age of three, her teachers like Guru Smt. Arpita Venkatesh, Guru Shri Hare Krishna Behera and Guru Smt. Y Asha Kumari has been part of her 21 plus years of training. A professional artist for the last 12 years, she is now pursuing her Master’s in Filmmaking at the London Film School.

“I am not sure why I picked Odissi. It was a very organic process. In retrospect, I think I do it because it centers me psychologically. Staying fit has also become very easy for me. An hour of Odissi is like many workouts rolled into one. Having dance in my life has taught me the importance of discipline, perseverance and many other qualities that have held me in good stead in everything I have done so far.”

The pandemic however has forced dancers to pick up new skills. “Now we must know how to light the space we are performing in. We must make sure the sound is good, and the camera being used to record or live stream our performance must be a good one. These are all things somebody else would do in an auditorium.”

Read the full story that first appeared in The New Indian Express dated June 13, 2021 here: