Biz lessons from dance: How Smita Patil changed course for Odissi guru Jhelum Paranjape

Chasing Passion is a four-part series distilling lessons from acclaimed masters across genres. In the third part of the series, Odissi danseuse Jhelum Paranjape reveals how she surmounted every obstacle to follow her passion. A lesson for the boardroom.

From being forced to learn dance at an early age to abandoning it to go her way to now being called a Guru, Odissi maestro Jhelum Paranjape laughs as she recounts her over 25 year-old own journey. At the ripe old age of 23 – an age considered old to learn classical dance though there are a few eminent ones who have – Jhelum Paranjape wanted to learn Odissi.

What are the lessons that she’d translate from the dance hall to the corporate boardroom?

Passion is the key

To do well at anything, says Paranjape, you must be passionate about it. Are you willing to make what interests you the centre of your universe, she asks.  “Money and the rest will follow later. That should not be the reason to start anything.”

There is always the what-ifs, hows and whys before one ventures into anything new. The best course would be to try it once. Like Paranjape did. “I did not want to learn any kind of dance. At least I wasn’t curious as early as I can remember. My mother wanted to learn dance and was naturally inclined to it, but could not pursue it as she was an active participant in the Rashtra Seva Dal –  it played a prominent role in India’s freedom struggle and seeks to fight communal forces in the country. So she wanted me to learn dance. I was first introduced to Kathak around the age of 8 by my mother. I did not enjoy it at all as the chakkars [rapid pirouettes> made me giddy. I kept up with it for a few months. I pursued Bharat Natyam for a year when I was 9 years old.”

Instil discipline

Learning a dance form inculcates a routine, self-discipline. Since students who learn dance usually start young, the discipline, order and routine is ingrained into them as they follow the form regularly. This is what management seeks to do in organisations. “When you make anything fun, a unique learning process, people are bound to work on it,” says Paranjape.

“My parents used song and dance as a form to educate people in RSD. As children, we toured the country with my parents during vacations. Though I abandoned Kathak, I took to folk dance and gave performances at the age of 6. There is a sense of gay abandonment to folk dances and it suited me as a child then.”

Paranjape did not encounter Odissi until she saw Kelucharan Mohapatra, the doyen of Odissi in India, perform in Orissa when she was around 15 years old. “I was mesmerized by it,” she says animatedly at the memory of the performance. “I decided this is the dance I want to do.”

At 20, watching Sanjukta Panigrahi (one of the foremost exponents of Odissi) dance, Paranjape was resolute: ‘I want do that.’ She was studying for her MSc degree in mathematics then and also teaching junior college students, when she set herself the task of finding a teacher.

Paranjape recalls how she met a friend who knew Shankar Behera, a teacher known to take very few students in his class and also discouraged many by charging high fees. Paranjape, along with her friend and actress, the late Smita Patil, and another colleague joined the class. The teacher singled out Smita Patil for her dancing prowess and remarked Paranjape was ‘strictly OK’!

Learning to let go

It is important to believe in oneself and also be prepared to work hard, says Paranjape. Smita Patil and the colleague gave up learning Odissi dance midway, while Paranjape was the only one who continued with it. “My teacher found me hard working and good. One day he said, You are too good for me.  I have taught you everything I know. Now, go learn from guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. A guru does not let go off of his disciples to join another guru, but my teacher, Master_ji_ did just that.’"

That’s a tough call for any business to take – let go of talent. “I agree it’s a tough call for businesses. But that’s how you get fresh talent,” says Paranjape.

Accept challenges

Paranjape recalls having met up with late danseuse Protima Bedi, who was in charge of a dance workshop in Mumbai conducted by Mohapatra. “Smita and I met with Protima who wanted me to show her one of my dance pieces before she could decide whether to allow me to join the workshop. I performed a difficult piece for her and Bedi remarked, “Not bad.” Smita later told me, “Prove you are good. What is this ’not bad’ business?”

Mastering the dance form, Paranjape later had a successful solo career, touring the world. Then it all came crashing down when she had a slip disc. “I decided that even if I could not dance, I would remain in the field doing something related to dance. I was then at peace.” When circumstances are not conducive, then don’t let go, says Paranjape. Try something else in the field. Become a mentor, for instance. Since you are good at what you do, you can be a good guide, she says.

Innovate

With time, Paranjape regained her health and was able to perform. Though she had to give up on performances for a while, she says, “I never gave up mentally.” When she regained her health, she did something that was unheard of then in Odissi. “I did a performance with a Marathi song which was like a bhav geet [songs that are not film songs>. It was a challenge as there was no mardal [percussion instrument specific to Odissi> player available in Mumbai and I gave the performance to the beats of a tabla! However, it did not affect the audience who came to watch the performance. It was a packed hall. It was one of my most appreciated performances. My guru was taken aback by the music but seeing the audience’s response, he was happy at my innovation.”

In other words, says Paranjape, make do with what you have. Innovate, and then set a new benchmark.

Be open to learning

Paranjape opened a dance school and named it Smitalay, in the memory of Smita Patil who had passed away by then. “At that time, I was the only teacher in the school. I had no experience in group choreography. But it was a challenge to learn new things. Today, some of my senior students are teachers it the school. When some of them say they want to learn hip, hop or Terence Lewis’s dance moves, I tell them: Go for it. I am often asked, Aren’t you turning students away from classical dance? I only say, what these other classes teach is also dance. When you learn other dance forms, you only add to your body of work.”

There is nothing exclusive and pure about anything that one knows or is following, says Paranjape. If one is willing to be open to learn and imbibe other dance forms, a few doors could open or it may spark off a new variant that could interest people. Who knows?!