BHUBANESWAR: Despite a severe resource crunch, the Sangeet Natak Akademi has chalked out a series of novel programmes for the first quarter of the current fiscal year. In association with the Nayagarh District Council of Culture, the Akademi will organise a 25-day State-level training programme in theatre for the youth at Brajendra High School premises at Nayagarh town that will commence on May 16, informed Akademi secretary Manmath Kumar Satpathy. The programme will accommodate 25 participants, both boys and girls in the age group of 15 to 30 years, who will be trained in different aspects of dramatics like acting, direction and stagecraft.

Cultural bond

The drama department of the Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, Bhubaneswar will conduct the programme. While participants will be selected through an interview on May 7, each of them will be provided stipend. The participants will produce and present a play upon completion of their course, he added. The Akademi will mount an Oriya folk dance festival at Rishra in Kolkata city on June 6. The first event of its kind for the Akademi, its objective is to strengthen the cultural bond between the large community of Oriyas staying in that state and their own state, the secretary said and revealed that an estimated 30,000 Oriyas stay in and around Rishra. Several Oriya cultural associations of West Bengal have been roped in to mount the event there, he added.

The daylong festival will showcase some of the best troupes of Ranapa, Chadheiya Nacha, Ghumura dance, Laudi dance, Bagha Nacha, Ghoda Nacha and several other folk forms of the state, it was learnt.

Talent hunt

In an attempt to spot hidden talents at the grass root level, the Akademi will organise a district level and state level talent hunt competition among the youth in the age group of 14 to 20 in Odissi dance, Odissi music and Odissi mardal. The district level competition will be organised by the respective District Councils of Culture in association with the state culture department and the Akademi, Satpathy stated and explained that the best performer of each stream will be invited to participate in the state level competition scheduled to be held at the capital during the second week of June. The best three performers of each branch-dance, music and percussion playing-will be awarded by the government while all the participants will be presented certificate of participation, the secretary said.

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