Celebrating folk zest
SARAT CHANDRA
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A folk festival had the audience in a tizzy.
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IN RHYTHM Members of the Gunjan Dance Academy present their number.
The Utkal Atma and Ori-France Cultural Meet had a cultural show on October 17 at Konark Natya Mandap, about a kilometre away from the famous Sun Temple. It is a lovely open-air auditorium built over the last two decades by Odissi dance Guru Gangadhar Pradhan. The one folk form that impressed was the Sambalpur folk dance, presented by the Cuttack-based Gunjan Dance Academy. The group had presented two items in Sambalpur folk style.
The three folk dances of Orissa that have considerably evolved are the `Chhau' of Baripada; `Sambalpuri' of the Western Orissa and the `Bagha Natcha' of Ganjam district. The Cuttack group that presented the Sambalpuri dance had eight women artistes; but the musician group of five belonged to Sambalpur. Some of the instruments used by the music accompanists for the Sambalpuri dance (like Nisan, Tasa etc) are local made; and hence not found all-over Orissa.
The most important feature of a folk dance is that it is a celebration of life. The dancers dance with joy, with abandon. Their footwork, hand movements, facial expressions all reflect this; Sambalpuri dance is perfectly characterised by this.
The group of eight folk artistes that evening danced a composite piece known as `Chatku Chata'. There are five important items in Sambalpuri dance, known as `Dalkhai', `Mailajada', `Raserkeli', `Bajania' and `Natchnia'. Apart from the instrumental music there are specific songs for each of the five items. One stanza from each of the songs was taken for the composite `Chatku Chata'. All the five items were fast paced.
This group also presented a newly composed item based on a hugely popular song, `Rangabati rangabati Kanakalata'. It is a love song, and evidently the dance item was also a duet. But to enhance appeal the dance composer in the background of the duo provided intermittently a group dancing in Sambalpuri style.
But there was no harmony between the two groups, and one group was therefore frozen to statuesque pose, a technique unsuitable for folk dances.
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