“You need to know the basics of dancing” — Shoma Momtaz
“I knew that the knack of dancing came from my mother. I feel that I knew how to dance the moment I came into this world. To be honest, I think dancing runs in my blood. I grew up in an environment where I watched my aunt Rawshan Jamil dance to the beat of the tabla of my uncle Gawhar Jamil. My mother Alpona Mumtaz was the owner of the Kothakoli Music, which opened in 1972. The school was closed around 2000, when my mother passed away. The school had every form of musical training. Unfortunately, I couldn't take on the responsibility of managing it,” she said to this correspondent.
“I have been a dance teacher since 1989, in Jahangirnagar. It was part time work initially. I was approved as a full time teacher around the 1990's. My real experience of dance started mainly when I got a scholarship from the Indian Government and joined MS University in Baroda. There I learnt Bharatanatyam for five years under gurus C V Chandrashekhar, Nargis Katpitia, Pradip Kumar Barua and Dr. Parul Shah. I completed my Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Performing Arts (Dance). Then I undertook a PhD programme in Folk Dance of Bangladesh at the Rabindra Bharati University in the early '90s. From then on I never stopped dancing.”
“It is very important for a person to know the basics of dancing. When you are doing contemporary dance you really need to understand the essence of dancing. Most importantly, the choreographer needs to know if he/she is blending the dance in a proper way. Recent day dances seems to be mainly fusion—a blend of Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Manipuri. But no matter what form of dancing or how a person fuses dance, they should know the origin of their form and that is classical dance. Roots should never be forgotten.”
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