Giving the young a chance
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The three-day dance festival organised by ‘Suravi’ showcased several budding artistes. SHYAMHARI CHAKRA
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Dance talent Pitambar Biswal
Bhubaneswar-based Pitambar Biswal has not only groomed a lot of talented young dancers, but has also provided a platform for the young dancers to prove their potential through the annual Ekamra dance festival. Biswal’s dance institution ‘
Suravi’ has been hosting this festival regularly at the ‘Ekamra Haat’ open air auditorium. This year’s three-day festival showcased several budding Odissi dancers. It also invited a brilliant Kuchipudi dancer from Hyderabad and a Kolkata-based Kathak dancer as guest artistes besides presenting performance of the ritualistic Mahari dance style of Puri.
Amulya Balabantray, member of choreographer Bichitrananda Swain’s ‘Rudrakshya’ dance troupe, emerged as the most impressive performer of the event. Gifted with natural grace, a fluid body language and a passion for perfection, the young dancer brought out his best both in pure and expressional dance. Equally impressive performance came from Hyderabad’s P.B. Pallavi. Presenting a dance of delight with neat movements, the young Kuchipudi artiste, who is also winner of the Singarmani title last year from Mumbai’s Sur Singar Samsad, had a gripping effect on the audience. She began with a ‘pushpanjali’ to Lord Nataraj, and concluded with the ‘tarangam’ depicting the dancing Krishna in ‘Bal Gopal’. Kolkata-based Aparupa Chatterjee, a disciple of Ratikant Mohapatra, was the other dancer who impressed with her spontaneity and fluidity both in pure and expressional dance. Two other budding Odissi dancers from Bhubaneswar – Amrita Pattsani and Niladri Mohanty – both products of ‘Suravi’ - were pleasant finds of the festival. It was a great pleasure watching Somalina Mishra of Puri presenting the centuries-old ritualistic Mahari dance of the Jagannath temple that was practised by devdasis for centuries. Though the practice has been discontinued in the temple, there is an attempt to revive the dance in a classical form by Somalina’s guru Rupashri Mohapatra.
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