For the Love of Dance

Photo: Ridwan Adid Rupon

Maleeha Mazen Khan is an undergraduate student of Independent University, Bangladesh, majoring in English literature. Maleeha has been dancing from a very young age and is currently pursuing a career in the performing art form.

Maleeha started dancing when she was only five. Although her inclination was towards music, in the hope of realising her mother's dreams she and her sister started taking dance lessons.

“I started off at Sangeet Bhaban and took lessons in Bhratanatyam and Kathak from Belayet Hossain and Tahmina Islam. I never graduated from the school as I left the institution and took a long break.”

Maleeha then returned to the world of dance in 2006, with a performance in the dance-drama “Chitrangada”, choreographed by Samina Husein Prema and staged by Sunnydale School. She played one of the lead roles, Kurupa. “It took me a lot of courage to take on that role, since I had not been in touch with dance for a long time. Shortly after the performance, with encouragement from all my teachers and family members, I enrolled in the dance school Nrityanandan, and Chayanaut, at the same time. This time, I took lessons in a completely new dance form: Manipuri.”

She took lessons from Sharmila Banerjee for four years at Nrityanandan. Throughout those years, she had the chance to participate in several workshops on classical dance, organised by Nrityanchal and the Indian High Commission's cultural centre.

With a desire to learn from videos of Indian classical dance, she came across one in particular -- of Odissi. The softness of the dance form grabbed her attention. She immediately sought to learn the form and joined Bulbul Academy of Fine Arts (BAFA) to complete a diploma course. At BAFA, she started taking lessons in Manipuri dance from Warda Rihab and in Odissi from Benazir.

“My breakthrough was a performance at the Uday Shankar Festival in Kolkata were I took part in a dance-drama called “Hey Ananta Punya” as a Buddhist priestess, another important character that had very challenging choreography, that too in front of a very discerning audience. The dance-drama was produced by Shadhona and directed by Warda Rihab.”

It took her a while, but she soon realised that her body was most adaptable to Manipuri. She then joined Dhriti, a dance school run by Warda Rihab, and took part in a lot of dance-dramas, including “Tasher Desh” (as Ishkaboni) by Shadhona, choreographed by Warda Rihab.

“As part of the dance school, we gave several performances in the country and abroad on occasions such as Tagore's 150th birth anniversary celebration in Delhi. We represented Bangladesh at the World Expo 2012 in South Korea. I look forward to dancing with a great trainer and an accomplished dancer, Warda Rihab. And I hope to give more time and full devotion to this art form even if my days are getting busier.”