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Devdasi dance fest next month

BHUBANESWAR: Fifteen young and promising Indian classical dancers from five nations and representing seven classical dance forms, besides the ritualistic Mahari dance of Puri, will be featured during the three-day second annual Devdasi dance festival scheduled to be organised in the city from September 24.

Announcing the names of the participating artistes, festival coordinator Mr. Jagabandhu Jena said that the event would be the first of its kind in the State and one of the very few in the country that provides a platform for young soloists of all sorts of Indian classical dances.

The festival would feature dancers who had devotion and dedication of the Devdasis (temple dancers) towards dance.

It would also honour an outstanding young Indian classical dancer with the Devdasi National Award for Dance, Mr. Jena said. The last living Devdasi of the Jagannath temple of Puri would inaugurate the festival, he said.

Two dancers from Japan – Kazuko and Megumi Hiromitsu – would also perform in the festival. Kazuko, the best-known Odissi dancer, was a disciple of the legendary Kelucharan Mohapatra and Megumi Hiromitsu, a Kathak dancer, had been learning under a guru at Kolkata.

Similarly, Manipuri dancer Warda Rihab, a Muslim girl who had been passionately pursuing the dance form from Bangladesh, would also perform. The other Katha dancer would be Indrayanee Mukherjee of Mumbai, a disciple of Kathak exponent Uma Dogra.

A doctor by profession and a Bharatanatyam dancer by choice, South Africa-based Jyotsna Jagannath would be the other performer from abroad.

Kolkata-based Malabika Sen would be the other artiste in the Bharatanatyam segment.

New Delhi-based young but brilliant dancer Yamini Reddy, daughter and disciple of the illustrious dancer couple Raja and Radha Reddy, and Bangalore-based Sreelaxmy Govardhan, disciple of well-known dancer-choreographer Vjyanti Kashi would represent Kuchipudi style of Andhra Pradesh.

Similarly, Sattriya dance of Assam would be represented by Devika Bourthkur of Guwahati.

US-based Odissi dancer Shalini Patnaik, better known as one of the three Patnaik sisters who performed with Madonna, would also perform.

Orissa’s Raseswari Mohanty, Seema Surajia and Debasmita Behera, toppers of the groups of the Naveen Kalakar competitive dance festival organised by the host organisation Devdasi Nrutya Mandir, would also be included in the Odissi segment, Mr. Jena said, and added that young Swarnaprava of Berhampur town would perform Mahari dance in the festival.

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