The solo utsav
SHYAMHARI CHAKRA
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Guru Pankaj Utsav saw both veterans and debutant dancers perform well.
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YOUNGEST AND BEST Aurosmita Acharya.
Late Pankaj Charan Das was always concerned about the marginalisation of solo dancing in Odissi.. When Guru Pankaj Charan Odissi Research Foundation was launched 13 years ago to celebrate his birthday, he wanted only solo items to be performed during Guru Pankaj Utsav. He further instituted the coveted annual Mahari award that is being presented to a dancer of high calibre. (Maharis were the devdasis of the Puri Jagannath temple.) The award is given away during the Utsav every year and it is customary for the awardee to perform on the occasion too.
The two-day event at the Rabindra Mandap in Bhubaneswar saw both veterans and debutant dancers from India and abroad including New Delhi-based Odissi danseuse Ranjana Gauhar, the Mahari awardee for the year, perform.
Ranjana, who had put up a brilliant performance at the Mukteswar dance festival in the city recently, disappointed the audience. The desired force in her movements required to demonstrate the `tandav' elements in the presentation `Devi Mahavidya' was sadly missing. And her lyrical limb language was also missing in the next abhinaya number. The saving grace was, however, her concluding number that was based on a Meera bhajan.
Kolkata-based Rina Jana, the other senior dancer and disciple of Kelucharan Mohapatra, put up a neat show. She presented `Hamsadhwani pallabi', `thai' and an abhinaya number striking right intensity. So did Ashok Ghosal, the lone male dancer of the festival, who performed his own choreographic composition mana uddharana karahe tarana, an abhinaya number.
The real show stealers were, however, the debutante dancers — Aurosmita Acharya, Maushumi Madhu Chhanda and Bandita Das — all from Orissa besides Sitara Thobani and Jamie Lynn Colley from the U.S.
The best among the budding dancers was Aurosmita, the youngest ever participant of the Utsav. Her grace and innocence were apt to articulate the sentiments of love-lorn Radha in Mohane deli chahni and a vivid display of devotion in `Suryastaka'.
It was a sheer joy and excitement to watch Sitara and Jamie articulating the attitude, behaviour and sentiments of Indian women in an incredible way. As Sitara demonstrated the way a devdasi getting ready for dance and Jamie articulated an angry Radha in Jayadev's Geet Govind, the audience could not believe that hey were groomed in an alien culture.
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