Monami Nandy is a senior disciple of guru Sharmila Biswas, having gleaned from her a warm and unabashed style of Odissi. As a senior repertory member of guru Biswas’ Odissi Vision Movement Centre (Kolkata), Monami has danced at major festivals across India and internationally.
In addition to Odissi, Monami is versed in several folk dances of Odisha. She also has a keen interest in the Indian martial art forms of Mayurbhanj chhou (Odisha), Kalaripayattu (Kerala) and Thang-Ta (Manipur). She has honed her abhinaya (dramatic) skills at the Navarasa Sadhana acting course by guru G. Venu (Kerala), and has attended Kutiyattam (ancient theatre form of Kerala) workshops by Amannur Rajaneesh Chakyar. She has also attended body-based movements workshops by Maya Krishana Rao (Delhi), Preethi Athreya (Chennai), Prashant More (Goa) as well as traditional Javanese elements and spiritual dance by Rianto Lanang. Monami uses this knowledge bank of movement methodologies to also inform her practice as a dance movement therapist, mining the potential of dance as a tool for collective well-being by contributing her skills to NGOs in support of LGBT, domestic violence, and mental health issues.
A natural striking presence aside, Monami brings to her performances an intuitive and embodied presence, exuding both power and sensitivity. She is currently exploring the formal language of stylised gestures to find a personal mode of expression for some of the anxieties arising from our contemporary times. Her own works, including the dance-theatre productions UNTIL THE FLIGHT (2017) and Songs of Our Sisters (2023), have highlighted the acute, confounding nature of our shared humanity.
