Rekha Tandon has pursued an individual path as an Odissi dancer, choreographer and researcher. She trained in Odissi for many years with Ms. Madhavi Mudgal, Guru Trinath Maharana and Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. She received the Charles Wallace Arts Fellowship UK, and subsequently the UNESCO Artist’s Bursary Award, for further dance studies at Trinity Laban in London, where she was awarded a PhD in 2005. Her thesis examined Odissi from the perspective of Choreological Studies, and her seminal ideas on the tantric body map as a blueprint for Indian dance were first published in 2008 by the IGNCA New Delhi, as part of the Narivada series.
Rekha’s work in Odissi after Laban has explored the areas of common ground between classical and contemporary values in dance practice, and between Indian dance movement and yoga. This has encompassed approaches to embodiment, choreography, performance and teaching. It is this engagement with different aspects of Odissi informed by Choreological Studies that has made Dance Routes’ contribution to Odissi distinctive.
Rekha has collaborated extensively with her partner, British musician and videographer Michael Weston, on live performances and dance videos since 1995. Her solo performances have been presented at many venues in different parts of the world since 1988. With the creation of DHARA, she started the Dance Routes repertory group which brought together gotipua and sahiyatra performers, and with whom she created choreography that wove folk acrobatics with the chiseled vocabulary of classical Odissi. Since 2010 and a move from Odisha to Auroville, she has choreographed for dancers from different disciplines, using Odissi movement alongside the martial arts and contemporary dance.
Image: Photograph © Abinasha Pasricha
