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Welcome to Rhythmica

The Rhythm of Dance

My Story

My name is Ishita Mandal. I received my initial training under the guidance of Smt.Sutapa Talukdar in Odissi dance from the age of four years. I got the rare opportunity to share the stage with the famous dancers like Sri Shanti Amarendra Bose and popular Tollywood (Bengali) actress Rituparna Sengupta in ABHINGYAN SHAKUNTALAM – a production of gurukul, directed by Smt. Sutapa Talukdar. Under Gurukul troupe I have performed:

Centre for cultural resources and training , New Delhi
Surya Kund festival (Haryana)

I have received training under the able guidance of Smt. Aloka kanungo (one of the leading classical dancers of India). A worthy heir to the art of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, she is a name within the odissi genre. Under Shinjan Nrityalaya troupe I have performed in numerous prestigious dance festivals in India. Some of them are as follows:

Soorya festival (Kerala)
Nishagandhi festival (Kerala)
Udayashankar dance festival (Kolkata)
Mukteshwar temple dance festival (Odissa)
Konark dance festival (Odissa)
Orissa festival utkal dibas celebration (Odissa)
Puri beach festival (Odissa)

I gave my first solo performance at Rabindra Sadan, Kolkata. I got the unique opportunity to work with veteran dancers like Smt. Kalavati Devi (living legend of Manipuri dance) and Smt. Poushali Chatterjee and Late.Smt Rani karna (renowned kathak exponent) . I have also attended workshops of popular Odissi dancer Smt.Sujata Mohapatra (daughter-in –law) of Odissi exponent guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, guru Giridhari Nayak and numerous. I went to Sambalpur (Orissa) to learn Sambalpuri folk dance from Guru Ranjan Sahoo.

Not only classical dance, I am expert in performing western dance, Bollywood, semi-classical etc. I attended workshop conducted by Masterji Saroj khan, the Godmother of Bollywood choreography. As a dance teacher, at first I used to teach classical in India and U.S.A. Gradually I started to teach Bollywood and semi-classical in Melbourne. I became popular as a choreographer after my performances there and now I am teaching dance to people of different age and currently performing in Melbourne events.

I have been awarded Sangeet Visharad, the senior diploma with distinction both from Prayag Sangeet Samiti (Allahabad) and Pracheen kala Kendra (Chandigarh). Recently I have won 2nd place in the South Asian Dance competition 2020 organised by ATN, Bangladesh.

I have appeared and performed in various TV channels such as Etv Bangla, Sonar Bangla, Doordarshan news, U.S fox news and Melbourne BollyOz show. Watch my interview at The BollyOZ Show in Melbourne released in Oct 2018 - https://www.facebook.com/bollyoz/videos/243136399702123/

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About Rhythmica

Rhythmica is a dance school in the Melbourne western suburb of Truganina offering Bollywood, Odissi (Indian classical dance form) and Sambalpuri Folk Dance owned by Ishita Mandal, an eminent Indian classical dancer. We also have our dance group who performs on shows all over Melbourne.

Bollywood Dance

Bollywood dance is the dance-form used in Bollywood films. It is a mixture of numerous styles. These styles include belly-dancing, Kathak, Indian folk, Western popular, and "modern" dance.

Odissi Dance

Odissi or Orissi is one of the pre-eminent classical dance forms of India which originated in the Hindu temples of the eastern coastal state of Odisha in India. Its theoretical base trace back to ‘Natya Shastra’, the ancient Sanskrit Hindu text on the performing arts. Age-old tradition of Odissi is manifested from Odisha Hindu temples and various sites of archaeological significance that are associated with Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, the sculptures of which adorn dance postures of this art form.

Front to back: Ishita, Anil, Dipanwita, Himanshu

Sambalpuri Folk Dance

Folk Dance or Tribal Dance is a dance form from a particular region. Sambalpuri Folk Dance, originated from Sambalpur (region of Odisha) is the most popular, dynamic and energetic folk dance in India.

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