Members of the Ekamra Walks, the heritage walk of the city, on Monday, were treated with two wonderful recitals of Odishi by the students of Art Vision, the institute run by renowned Odishi and Chhow exponent Guru Ileana Citaristi.
More than 20 members of the Ekamra Walks team not only received the warm welcome of the famous danseuse, who is also a Padma awardee, but they saw the way, she has kept her house with a blend of traditional Odishan architecture and style. They got mesmerised by the performances Dasamahavidya and Mangalacharan, two items in Odishi on an open stage in the building by her disciples girls.
The tour included four foreigners, two from France and two from the United States, and nearly 10 from outside States in the country. During the Odishi recital, the girls performed powerful dance drama under the supervision of their Guru Ileana, who has built her nice institute Art Vision, on the western banks of the holy Bindusagar and just opposite the famous medicinal plant garden, Ekamra Van.
While in Dasamahavidya, the dance students performed a dance drama on the 10 incarnations of Shakti, i.e.Kali, Tara, Sodoshi, Bhubaneswari, Chinnamasta, Vairavi, Dhumavati, Matangi, Bagalamukhi and Kamala, in Mangalacharan, they included Sthita Kamala, a dramatic adaptation of Gitagovinda, relating to lord Krishna’s leela.
Earlier, Director Tourism Nitin B Jawle welcomed the visitors at Mukteswar. He also added that there is a plan to include the visit to Art Vision, an element in the route map of the Ekamra Walks, as it has already become one of the major heritage spots and learning centres with more than 60 girls getting the tutelage in Odishi dance from their Guru. In fact, decades ago after getting her training in Odishi from the legendary Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Italy-born Ileana has made her beautiful home Art Vision permanent residence and remains busy round the year and crisscrossing the globe with promoting Odishi dance and culture.
Earlier, at around 7 am as usual, the Ekamra Walks started from Mukteswar Temple and covered Parasurameswar, Swarnajaleswar, Kotitirtheswar, Bindusagar, Ananta Vasudev, lingaraj, Chitrakarini, Suka-Sari Deula, Bindusagar Parikrama encircling the holy lake, Vaitaal Temple, Art Vision campus and ending at Ekamra Van to see the wonderful medicinal plant garden.
While the foreigners were delighted to know such an event to promote heritage exists in the city and learnt how the city has got the largest density of ancient monuments across the Old Bhubaneswar heartland, they also promised to pass on their nice memories to friends and others to attract more visitors.
Meanwhile, De Tour, the agency conducting the heritage walk under the guidance and support from Bhubaneswar Development Authority,Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and Odisha Tourism, has come out with a teaser on the weekly heritage walk and it has generated a great response among the public, and mainly among the young mass.