The fourth evening of the International Odishi Dance Festival here on Thursday was a fine combination of junior and senior dancers of the State and outside. The evening witnessed eight solo, two duet and two group recitals.
Minati Pradhan of Bhubaneswar kicked off the evening with an abhinaya “Sakhi he….” One of the finest choreographies of Guru Kelu Charan Mahapatra, this recital describes how Radha waits for Krishna in kunja bana. losing patience, she asks her sakhis to go and get her eyes’ apple. Minati, who is lucky enough to have had the blessings of Guru Kelu Charan Mahapatra, Kumkum Mahanty and Guru Gangadhara Pradhan, gave full justice to this choreography with her apt facial expressions and lucid body movements.
The following piece was by Bijan Palai of Bhubaneswar. His presentation was an abhinaya describing the eternal love between a nayaka and a nayika.
Sujata Nayak from Kolkata presented “Sakhi he….” Next item was a duet presentation by Manasi Maity and Jyotirmayee Das of Bhubaneswar. They presented “Ahalya”. Mithilesh Pattnaik, a dibyanga, attracted the attention of the audience with his presentation “Bal Gopal astakam.” K Jyotirmayee Pattnaik of Bhubaneswar left the audience awestruck with her well choreographed abhinaya “Basi mo hoila….”
A group of five female dancers of Studio Odishi, a Japan- based institution, performed Vasant Pallavi. Each dancer of the group emanated vigour in every nerve, making for a dynamic presentation.
Dushmanta Kumar of Bhubaneswar came alive on the stage with “Jata tabi….” Binayak Samal and Sidheswar Behera of the city presented “Khamaj Pallavi and Krushnaya.” Gayatri Chand, one of the fortunate dancers to have the direct blessings of late Guru Deba Prasad Das, came with an abhinaya “Kede chhanda Jane lo sahi…” Neha Biswal of the USA was the penultimate performer. Her item was “Bageshree Pallavi”. The concluding item was a group presentation by the students of Devaadi, a Bhubaneswar-based dance school run by noted dancer Rosalin Mahapatra. They performed “Nadam” showcasing how a jawab sawal can nicely be established between Odishi and instruments like Mardala, Manjira and flute. It was a treat for both the trained and untrained eyes.
The morning session and evening session featured some young and established dancers. The morning session dancers were Jaya Prakash Pathak from Darbhanga, Parimita Mohanty of Bhubaneswar, Anuja Sarkar from Koraput, Biswarupa Dixit of Bhubaneswar, Binod Chandra Sahu from Phulbani, Rajashree Mahapatra of Bhubaneswar, Sam Goraya from Australia, Ananya Srushti of Bhubaneswar, Satya Prakash Saoo of Bhubaneswar, Deepanjana Kar from Dhenkanal and a group from Nrutyashala, Cuttack.
Similarly the afternoon session's starting and concluding items were group presentations by the students of Kala Vikas Kendra, Ganjam and by Puspita Mishra and her disciples respectively. The solo performers were Arpita Samal from Koraput, Dr Sutapa Biswas, Anwesha Das, Rajashree Jena and Akanksha Pattanayak all from Bhubaneswar. The only duet recital was by Priyanka Jena and Bidya Biswajeeta from Cuttack.
