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Mumbai: Odissi dancer from Trinidad explains his love for the classical dance
Updated On: 12 July, 2018 07:03 AM IST | Mumbai | Snigdha Hasan
Ahead of his performance at a festival in the city, an Odissi dancer from Trinidad recounts how his love for the classical dance form brought him to India to start all over again
_l.jpg "Mumbai: Odissi dancer from Trinidad explains his love for the classical dance")
As a young boy growing up in the picturesque island of Trinidad in the Caribbean, Vinod Kevin Bachan's exposure to the Indian classical dance form of Odissi was seldom through live performances. But the little of what he saw on TV was enough to have a lasting impact on him. "I was left mesmerised. I knew Odissi was my calling," says the 27-year-old, ahead of his performance at the Raindrops Festival of Indian Classical Dance. Entering its 28th edition this year, the festival is organised under the aegis of the Sam Ved Society for Performing Arts, which was founded by Mumbai-based veteran kathak exponent Uma Dogra in honour of her guru, the late Pandit Durgalal. The festival's aim is to encourage and provide a platform to up-and-coming Indian classical dancers.
Reaching this platform, however, has not come easy to Bachan. His arduous journey in pursuit of mastering Odissi began at home. "I come from a traditional background, where dancing [as a profession] for men is considered odd. While my mother was supportive throughout, it took my father some time to warm up to the idea," he shares, adding that he began with learning kuchipudi for seven years in Trinidad, before he came across an Odissi dancer who had come on an Indian government scholarship to the island nation. "She opened my eyes to how Odissi could be taken up as a career. I trained under her for some time to arm myself with basic knowledge of the dance form. And then it was time to come to India," he says.
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