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Saturday, Nov 17, 2007
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Workshop for Gotipua dance troupes

Correspondent

The highly acrobatic dance form is attracting wide audience

BHUBANESWAR: As part of the ongoing ‘gurukul project’, which was envisaged and financially supported by the Ministry of Tourism to promote cultural tourism, the Konark Natya Mandap, an institution founded by well-known Odissi exponent Gangadhar Pradhan, will host a two-day workshop for the Gotipua dance troupes of the State commencing Sunday at Konark. Elaborating, Mr. Pradhan, formerly president of the Orissa Sangeet Natak Akademi, told The Hindu that although the elegant and globally popular Odissi dance evolved from the ancient Gotipua dance tradition, the later was marginalised due to lack of patronage.

The aim

This highly acrobatic dance form that the adolescent boys perform being dressed as girls was attracting the audience wherever it was being performed, he said, and added that the workshop aimed at drawing the attention of the dance exponents and experts in the filed of culture towards its inherent potentialities as a prominent performing arts form.

While a number of such prominent persons like Mardal exponent and Akademi awardee Banamali Moharana, noted vocalist Ghanashyam Panda, Odissi Research Centre chief executive and music composer Ramahari Das, Mardal player Dhaneswar Swain and Carnatic veena exponent Rama Rao Patra would attend the workshop as observers, Gotipua exponent Padma Shri Maguni Das would inaugurate it.

As many as 12 Gotipua troupes and three gurus – Birabar Sahoo, Jayakrushna Nayak, Banambar Swain – would participate in this two-day event that would conclude on Tuesday. The troupes were from Raghurajpur artistes’ village, Konark, Brahmagiri and Puri.

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