It must be distracting to sit next to Subodh Poddar at a dance concert. For as the dancer switches between mudras / pirouettes / ladis, The JJ School of Art graduate furiously sketches, creating up to 30 calligraphy like artworks of the performer during a one hour show. These Chinese inks on rice paper he brands under the label Dancescapes and retails out of his Malad studio.

Making Points and Planes

The obsession with subjects that shimmy started around the year 1993, when Poddar attended a Sonal Mansingh concert and used the blank side of the ticket to reduce the Odyssey dancer to strokes and swirls of ink. “It is so much more challenging to capture a moving subject. Besides, the kick I get out of omitting details like a mouth or hand, but not have the viewer miss it, is amazing,” says Poddar, who previously worked at an ad agency.Since then, he’s sketched everyone from Birju Maharaj and Mallika Sarabhai to Uma Dogra and Jhelum Paranjpe. Some, he’s even gotten autographed. Making a move?

Watch him Live on Saturday

If there is a recital where you don’t find Poddar in the audience, he’s probably up on stage, live sketching in tandem with a dancer/musician. This Saturday afternoon, as part of a Tributory Artwalk at Fort's Gallery BMB, he will live draw on Burmese paper while a musician sings a tribute to Rabindranath Tagore. 

Besides Indian dance forms, Poddar has also worked with international moves, Flamenco’s “swift and powerful” ones being his favourite to capture. “I look forward to drawing at a ballet show soon,” he says. That ought to keep him on his toes!

Getting there: Dancescapes, call Subodh Poddar on 9820152918 or visit www.dancescapes.co.in, sketches start at Rs 7,000, live performance on May 28 from 2 to 4 pm at Gallery BMB, Queen’s Mansion, near Cathedral School, Fort, no entry fee.