To our director Sukanya Mukherji, my mother, on Mother’s Day

MISHKA MUKHERJI

I’ve decided not to wait until some sad or special future occasion to say how grateful I am to my mom for my life in dance, especially at Mayur. Anyone who has spent time around the two of us knows that I’m probably less nice to her than anyone else in my life. You’ve all heard us argue – I’m embarrassed to admit how often I’ve spoken sharply to her in front of other people! – and yet she has made so much room for my voice in her decisions over the years as director of Mayur. Students see a lot of me in the classroom these days, and it’s only because she has trusted me and taught me, continues to teach me, how to be an effective, loving, and generous teacher. I have a long way to go, but I’ve already found so much joy and fulfillment in the classroom, thanks to the opportunity and instruction I’ve received.

Ma has a bold personality and a larger-than-life presence; she is talkative and assertive, and she loves to share stories and wisdom from her long and varied experience in dance. You sense how she can fill a room, or a conversation. Yet she has made space for so many people, worked so incredibly hard to organize and create opportunities for anyone who cares enough and puts in the effort. She’s put together shows for hundreds of dancers now, coming up with new ideas every year and thinking of how to include every student at every level so they get a chance to experience the thrill (and the effort!) of performing on a real stage; painstakingly making, maintaining, and rearranging costumes for over 30 years, which is why kids at Mayur don’t have to pay for new costumes every year and still look great on stage. She’s invited artists to perform in our area so we get to experience and know about the wider world of dance, and she’s paid special attention to promoting dancers who are trying to establish themselves in this country despite the difficult odds. She’s organized travel for entire groups of us, remembering dates of everyone’s semesters, exams, work schedules, and holidays, and finding ways to work around them. Even in scheduling classes, she puts an unbelievable amount of time and thought into arranging it so parents of enrolled siblings don’t have to drive twice on Sundays, student teachers don’t have to begin too early in the morning or stay too late in the evening, students with other commitments or homes far away can still make it. I don’t have a lot of experience with other schools and companies, but I can’t imagine everyone does these things.

She’s given me, a person who she really wasn’t sure would ever even be able to dance, and a person who has certainly not always deserved it, a chance to discover how much I can love something; that thing is not only dance, but teaching, creating, community, and a platform to try new things, which she built from the ground up and is so generous in sharing – that thing is belonging to Mayur. I don’t say this enough, but the part of this gift that I cherish most of all is the chance to work with her and continue learning from her. I can say with absolute certainty that I would never have found this major, beloved part of my life without her, and that it wouldn’t be nearly so satisfying working with anyone else; it is humbling, in a good way. There is a reason so many people come back to her year after year, even if they stop attending classes, even if they’re not related to her by blood – she’s still there, ready to give them a push (and a healthy dose of no-nonsense wisdom), if they ever want it. So Ma, there’s really no way to thank you enough (or apologize enough for how difficult I can be), but I thought it was about time I gave it a try. Happy Mother’s Day, and thank you – for everything. All of us at Mayur are very lucky to have you, and no one more so than me.