With addition of a forenoon session, the second day of the ongoing International Odishi Dance festival (IODF) at the Rabindra Mandap here witnessed performances by a large number of budding dancers on Wednesday.
While the inaugural day had two sessions, afternoon and evening, spanning over five hours, the second day showcased 23 solos, five duets and four group presentations during three sessions that lasted for 11 hours.
Among the senior soloists were Naba Kishore Mishra from Bhubaneswar and Bani Ray from the USA apart from young and talented dancers like Sridutta Bhol from Odisha Dance Academy, Bhubaneswar, Abhayalaxmi from Sanjali Centre of Odishi from Bengaluru, Nivdeita Daw from Shinjan Nrityalaya, Kolkata, Amrita Pati from US-based i-Gurukul, Arpita Swain from Srjan, Bhubaneswar, Shivani Parija from Gunjan Dance Academy, Cuttack and Jagyandatta Pradhan from Rudrakshya Foundation, Bhubaneswar. The dancers from abroad who performed were Tamami Tanabe and Haru Yamazaki, both from Japan besides Aslesha Mishra and Amrita Pati from the USA.
Of the duets, Sriradha Paul from Kolkata and Bichitra Behera from Bhubaneswar staged a spectacular presentation of their Guru Bichitrananda Swain’s fabulous choreography.
New Delhi-based Jyoti Srivastava’s Vaishali Kala Kendra troupe made a mark in the festival with an energetic presentation of the power-packed choreography Dasamahavidya. Similarly, Pragyan Nrutyayana from Bhubaneswar made a neat presentation.
“I belong to Odisha and I am based in the USA where I am being groomed by my guru Gayatri Joshi at i-Gurukul Foundation in California. Though we perform at various venues, our greatest joy and excitement has always been to perform Odishi in Odisha that is the birthplace of Odishi and of mine as well,” shared Amrita Pati who was accompanied by her guru and several family members from the USA.