More than 100 school children and 50 teachers, scholars and art lovers attended a workshop at Heritage Village Raghurajpur and got a feel of its pulse on Sunday last. The event was organised by the
Bhubaneswar chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).
Famous artist and author Dr Dinanath Pathi addressed the students and taught them about the history of Pata Chitra art, its evolution through the past 50-60 years and the importance of the younger generation gaining knowledge about it. later, the students were divided into groups and observed the A to Z of the indigenous painting, from the raw material preparation stage to the final product.
The workshop was followed by an excellent performance of Gotipua dance by eight children of the village. In this dance form, young boys dressed up as girls perform classical dance with intricate formations, to the accompaniment of Odishi music. The themes are generally mythological. Before the performance, eminent danseuse Dr Ileana Citaristi addressed the students and explained the evolution of modern Odishi from its roots in the Mahari and Gotipua schools of dancing.
She also gave a brief account of how her Guruji had to struggle in the early years before he bloomed as the foremost exponent of Odishi dance, which went far and wide all over the world with him and his troupes.
After this extensive but packed exposure, the children were treated to a sumptuous lunch of ethnic cuisine before leaving for their homes.
Chapter convenor H Balakrishnan informed the media that this is the first phase of a three-stage heritage education project on Raghurajpur taken up by the Bhubaneswar chapter. Next phase will be intensive 3-day training for 10 to 15 selected students, right in the village if possible. The final phase will be a seminar-cum-workshop on the heritage village in Bhubaneswar either in December of January next.