The second evening of the three-day Sankalp national classical dance festival on Wednesday showcased spectacular Odishi presentations by two of Odisha’s well-known exponents who are based beyond the boundary of their homeland, Aloka Kanungo (Kolkata) and Kasturi Patnaik (Delhi).
Kanungo’s Kolkata-based Shinjan Nrityalaya troupe of six intensely involved dancers stormed the stage, literally, with their power-packed presentation of Tara pallabi followed by Devi Stutee. The beauty of the pallabi was its novel patterns of group formations and best exploration of the stage-space while its strength was the excellent team-work.
The fast-paced piece that demands much stamina, balance and control from the dancers, was flawlessly executed. It was their dance of sheer joy in which the souls danced in perfect harmony with the bodies.
Devi Stutee was interesting for its concept that drew a parallel between the Dasavatara and the Dasamahavidya, the ten incarnations of the male and female forms of the divine.
In Kanungo's concert, the connoisseurs of dance and music had a pleasant discovery of gifted singer Sangita Panda, daughter of well-known musicologist Pandit Gopal Chandra Panda, as a promising composer. She has scored music for both the productions of Kanungo.
Earlier in the evening, Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Prativa Award winner Kathak dancer Pallabi De and Odishi dancer Manikarnika – both based in New Delhi – performed as soloists. Pallabi’s presentations, both the pure and the expressional elements, were neat and she lived up to her reputation.
Ashabari pallabi, that young Manikarnika performed, was too complex with a variety of variations in movements, stances and rhythmic patterns. It was like a necklace crafted with creative imagination and designed with an amazing pattern of ornamentation. The inaugural evening that had offered enough glimpses of festival director Kasturi Patnaik as an amazing choreographer and music composer, was complemented with her role as the rhythm composer during the second evening.
Presentations of Kanungo and Kasturi Patnaik proved how these two Odishi exponents, growing up away from their homeland of Odishi, have been faithful to the Odishi tradition and how they are engaged in meaningful creations that can be billed as innovations within the tradition.