JOIN USColourful Odissi
Last week, Nrityantar, a popular Odissi dance institution, organised it’s annual Odissi dance festival- Naman.
Three dance recitals, highlighting different schools of Odissi and developed by different gurus, were performed on the occasion. The festival actually began with a panel discussion with senior dancers, teachers and scholars on the theme “Odissi outside Odisha – dancing in cultural diversity to pluralism”.
Bhramara Geeta
Leena Mohanty, the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar awardee from the Sangeet Natak Akademi, presented 3 dance pieces. She opened the programme with Mangalacharan, customarily, which was in the interesting raga Jana Sammohini.
Capturing the mood of the Shravana, she presented the pallavi with rhythmic variations, in Ekatali. The ‘Bhramara Geeta,’ selected from the Bhagavata, was an interesting item. Here Radhika addresses a bee, which takes form as a messenger of Krishna and says – “After making us (Radhika) drink the enchanting nectar of His lips Krishna suddenly abandoned us, just as you (bee) might quickly abandon some flowers”.
It included the stories of Balichakravarthi, Vali-Sugreeva, Surpanakha episode etc. Leena Mohanty’s abhinaya caught the attention.
Murali Pani
Five upcoming artistes of the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble presented three compositions in Odissi style. The opening pallavi was in the raga Shankaravaran, set to Ektali. Pairing in twos and fours, Gopis praise the flute of Lord Krishna in “Muralipani Chahan,” which was pleasing. In the Jayadeva’s Astapadi, young girls presented the Dashavatar, changing roles in quick succession. Students performed with gay abandon and will have a great future with some more higher training and stage experience.
Womanhood
Kavita Dwivedi is the daughter of Guru Harekrishna Behera, a senior Odissi dancer, choreographer and recipient of the Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. She had chosen a very interesting story on womanhood. In the “Sweta Mukti” stories of 5 women were narrated through short episodes.
All of them were deeply influenced by the philosophy of Buddha, the greatest torch bearer for humanity. Gautami (the foster mother), Yashodhara (wife), Magandhi (the rejected queen), Amarpali (the court dancer) and prakruti (the downtrodden woman) – were portrayed with impactful Abhinaya.