Befitting tribute
SHYAMHARI CHAKRA
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The two-day Samaroha was an effort to revive the Debaprasad Das' style.
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Much credit goes to Gajendra Panda in particular for his continued activities for promoting his guru's style
IMPRESSIVE DUO Gajendra Panda and Gayathri
Legendary Odissi guru Debaprasad Das had evolved a distinct style. Unfortunately, he died young and his style was marginalised for lack of patronage and promotion.
However, thanks to the efforts of dancers such as Durga Charan Ranbir, Sudhakar Sahu, Gajendra Panda, Ramli Ibrahim, Sujata Mishra, Sangeeta Das and Leena Mohanty the style is still alive. And much credit goes to Gajendra Panda in particular for his continued activities for promoting his guru's style in India and Malayasia. .The recently concluded two-day Debaprasad Nrutya Samaroha (dance festival) hosted at Rabindra Mandap in Bhubaneswar by Gajendra's dance institution Tridhara was one such effort in that direction. Those performed included Sourav Ganguly's wife Dona (a disciple of Kelucharan Mohapatra), Delhi-based Madhumita Raut (daughter and disciple of Odissi exponent Mayadhar Raut) and nine soloists.
With an amazing `angasuddhi' (perfection of the body) Bhardak-based Smarika Rout performed Debaprasad's classic choreographic composition Astasambhu followed by a restrained but intense emoting in an abhinaya number tore sarana galire Murali choreographed by her guru Sudhakar Sahu.
Equally fascinating was Kuala Lumpur-based Gayathri Vadivelu who impressed the audience with her dancing skills in her duets with her guru Gajendra Panda in mangalacharan and ardhanariswara. Gayathri, however, has to hone her abhinaya ability, facial expression in particular. Debaprasad's U.S.-based disciple Jyoti Rout and Durga Charan Ranbir's disciple Rajashree Chintak Behera were the two senior dancers besides Panda who put up a neat performance.
It was a pleasant experience to watch Lawrence Sackris, an IT graduate from Malayasia.He was trained under Ramli Ibrahim and Gajendra Panda. The other young performer was Suchismita Sahoo of Tridhra. Two budding dancers — Prachurya Pattnaik from Berhampur and Sushree Bagmishree from Rourkela also displayed their dancing abilities. Interestingly, Bagmishree happened to be one of the grand children of late Debaprasad — a befitting tribute that the hosts thought of.
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