BHUBANESWAR: With one-third of the select participants are from Odissi alone in the forthcoming competitive Indian classical dance festival for young dancers in Mumbai from May 18 to 22, the dance form of Orissa is set to score a record in the 46-year-old history of the Sur Singar Samsad that is hosting the unique event - "Kal ke Kalakar" (artistes of future).

Besides, Odissi music that is still struggling for classical status will make its debut on May 26 in this prestigious national festival.

Speaking to The Hindu over phone from Mumbai, festival coordinator M.K. Patel revealed that the 10-day festival would have separate segments for Indian classical dance and classical music with five days each.

Of the 51 promising dancers selected from thousands of applications received from all over the country and abroad, 17 are from Odissi while highly popular dance styles like Bharat Natyam and Kathak have 14 and 19 berths respectively, it is learnt.

A jury comprising eminent dancers and musicians will watch the performances of these select dancers during the festival and those who will have exceptional performances will be awarded `Singarmani', `Surmani' and `Taal Mani' titles for dance, vocal and instrumental music respectively, Mr. Patel informed and added that stalwarts like Pandit Ravi Shankar, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Zakir Hussain and Sanjukta Panigrahi have been the past performers in `Kal ke Kalakar' festival.

Large contingent

Most of the large contingent of dancers representing Odissi is from Orissa besides a few from Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi and UK. The list includes two gifted male dancers from the State — Debashis Pattnaik of Rourkela and Saswat Joshi from Titilagarh — who have made a mark in the international arena. A disciple of eminent guru Durga Charan Ranbir, Debashis is currently performing in Malayasia while Saswat, a product of the Odissi Research Centre and at present a disciple of Padma Shri Ileana Citaristi, has already toured Korea.

Similarly, Sanjukta Dutta, disciple of versatile teacher and choreographer Bichitrananda Swain, is performing in France nowadays after an extensive tour of US. She won rave reviews for her solo performance in the third international Odissi dace festival held in Bhubaneswar earlier this year. Rashmi Rekha Das, Saswat's co-dancer from Orissa, is also a disciple of the legendary Kelucharan Mohapatra and Ileana Citaristi.

City-based hearing impaired Sonali Mohapatra, wife of talented flutist Abhiram Nanda and a disciple of Ranbir, could be a major attraction of the festival for her proven track record.

Talented trio

So also the talented trio from the stable of Debaprasad Das gharana — Lipsa Das, Aurosmita Acharya and Amrita Pattsani.

The Kolkata chapter of late Kelucharan Mohapatra's city-based Srjan dance institution, now under the direction of his son Ratikant Mohapatra, will have two promising performers in the festival, Rajnita Banarjee and Aparupa Chatterjee, both being trained under Ratikant.

UK-based Mitali Dev, the only participant from abroad, is also his disciple. The festival will further feature Shaswati Garai from Kolkata, winner of the first Kelucharan Mohapatra national yuva prativa puraskar (young talent award).

Debut for Odissi music

Billed as the poor cousin of Odissi dance Odissi music has finally claimed a berth in the music segment of the festival this year.

Bhubaneswar-based Sangeeta Panda, daughter and disciple of eminent music composer and scholar Gopal Chandra Panda, is representing the style as an aspirant for the `Suramani' title.

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