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A befitting tribute to a legend
SHYAMHARI CHAKRA
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The week-long Uday Shankar dance festival was a clutch of unique presentations.
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Offbeat items A scene from one of the ballets.
Legendary dancer Uday Shankar was born in Rajasthan. But Bengal, where he breathed his last, celebrates his birthday and calls him as Banglar Nataraj (Nataraj of Bengal). The love and respect Bengalis have for Uday Shankar is evide
nt from the fact that their annual dance festival is named after him. The festival, hosted by the state government in association with the West Bengal Dance Group Federation for the past 12 years in Kolkata, commences on December 8 every year, marking Uday Shankar’s birth anniversary.
The recently concluded week-long Uday Shankar dance festival at the Rabindra Sadan was unique in many aspects. It showcased major Indian classical dance styles while also giving a platform to lesser-known forms like Gaudiya Nrutya of Bengal and Mahari of Orissa. Specially-abled people and prisoners also staged their productions. There were solos, duets and group performances by budding and senior artistes.
The festival will be remembered for Brotherhood beyond Boundaries, the dance ballet presented by 56 inmates of Presidency and Midnapore Central jails. The team included eight women. The show received a standing ovation. A Baul singar of Bengal travels through different regions the county and comes across a wide spectrum of folk and martial dances. As he returns home, he realises boundaries are senseless and brotherhood exists beyond geographical lines. The ballet was danseuse Alokananda Roy’s eight-month labour of love and was a captivating presentation.
Kolkata-based Manipuri dancer Priti Patel, known for innovative choreographic styles and dealing with contemporary issues, also won hearts with her group of seven mentally challenged men and women who enacted the story of Karna. Famed Odissi dancer couple Ratikant Mohapatra and Sujata Mohapatra, disciples of the legendary Kelucharan Mohapatra, came up with a pulsating performance of the Jatayu Mokshya.
Of the other group presentations, city-based Sutapa Talukdar’s Gurukul Odissi dance institution had an impressive presentation with glimpses of Gurukul’s productions over the years through which one could see the evolution of Odissi in Bengal soil. Similarly, Bharatanatyam exponent Thankamani Kutty’s dance drama Bhasmasura, combining elements of Bharatanatyam and Mohiniattam, Behala Ragini, a creative dance composition by Gayatri Chatterjee based on Joy Goswami’s poetry, Ranan’s contemporary Kathak presented by the young dancer-choreographer Vikram Iyengar and the production of Anand Shankar Centre for Performing Arts directed by Uday Shanka’s daughter-in-law Tanusri Shankar are worth mentioning.
Senior dancers like Guwahati-based Sattriya artiste Anita Sharma, Mohini Attam dancer Pallavi Krishnan from Kerala and Kolkata’s Kuchipudi dancer Madhabi Mazumdar and Mohiniattam dancer Moli Roy put up neat shows. The most impressive performances were, however, by the budding artistes - Odissi dancer Rajnita Banarjee of Kolkata, Manipuri dancers Warda Rihab from Bangladesh and S. Basu Singh from Shantiniketan, Bharatanatyam dancers Kirti Ramgopal from Bangalore and Kalakshetra’s Utsa Ghosh and Kolkata’s Kathak dancer Ritika Som Choudhury.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
