Celebrating spring
SHYAMHARI CHAKRA
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A confluence of music and dance performances marked Basant Utsav celebrations.
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BASANT UTSAV A presentation of `Basant Rasa'.
Sisters Leena Mohanty and Leesa Mohanty are not only committed Odissi dancers but are also known to promote the dance form. Leena, winner of the Ustad Bismillah Khan youth award this year, is based in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, while her younger sister Leesa is Mumbai based. Yet, they managed to put together a commendable performance for the third international Odissi festival in New Delhi a few months ago and followed it up with the recent second annual Basant Utsav in their home city, Bhubaneswar.
The three-day event, held at the Rukmini Mandap open-air auditorium with an aesthetic ambience, was a confluence of classical dance and music. It featured Odissi, Manipuri, Bharatanatyam, Kathak and Mahari dance styles while the music segment had both Hindustani and Odissi recitals. With excellent team spirit coupled with synchronised movements, appealing costumes and makeup, the highly professional young dancers of Guru Bichitrananda Swain's Rudrakshya dance institution presented the most mesmerising performance of the festival - the Shankarabharan pallabi. And the duet that followed — Mahakalistutee — by Amulya Balabantray and Debashree Patnaik was spectacular.
Another group Odissi presentation that impressed was by the host organisation Bansi Bilas. Choreographed by Leena and Leesa, who also performed as Radha and Krishna in the dance ballet Basant rasa along with their troupe.
The best solo presentation came from versatile danseuse Aruna Mohanty, who performed to her own choreographic composition Barsha abhisara, and the young Debashish Patnaik, a disciple of Durga Charan Ranbir, who has emerged as a promising male dancer in the distinct Debaprasad Das style of Odissi.
Kolkata-based Bharatanatyam guru Thankamani Kutty and Manipuri exponent Kalavati Devi's troupes put up neat shows but in the absence of their respective star dancers Malabika Sen and Bimbavati Devi, the performances failed to evoke the desired impact. Similarly Guru Ranbir's wonderful choreographic composition Sapta Matruka, based on the tantric tradition has a poor execution by his troupe.
While versatile Odissi music composer and singer Ramahari Das and Hindustani vocalist Harihar Rath were at their usual best, the most pulsating performance was the group Mardal (percussion instrument being used with Odissi dance) presentation by Mardal Akademi of Bhubaneswar led by its founder and Akademi awardee Guru Banamali Moharana.
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