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Reviving an ancient dance form
SHYAMHARI CHAKRA
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The Centre’s announcement of aid to revive the Gotipua dance has come as a morale booster to the artistes.
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Photo: Shyamhari Chakra
Splendid form Gotipua artistes displaying their skill.
Gotipua, where boys dressed as girls present dance numbers, has a history of nearly 500 years. This unique dance form flourished in and around Puri with the patronage of the kings, zamindars and the priests of the ‘mutts’.
Though Gotipua dance lacks government patronage now, it is still being practiced thanks to the commitment and effort of few exponents like Padma Shri Maguni Das and Birabar Sahoo and the support of their local communities.
The Union Tourism Ministry’s recent announcement of financial aid to bring back the ancient dance form back to its glory through various seminars and workshops, has come as a morale booster for the artistes. In a project at Konark conducted by Odissi exponent Gangadhar Pradhan, as many as 12 troupes from the State took part and attended by Maguni Das and Birabar Sahoo. And there were eminent percussion exponent Banamali Moharana, veteran Odissi music composer and chief executive of the state-owned Odissi Research Centre Ramahari Das, scholar and critic Kedar Mishra and Gotipua researcher Chittaranjan Mallia.
While the Gotipua gurus narrated the history of their institutions, it was exciting to watch the three generations of Gotipuas on stage – from octogenarian gurus to the second generation teachers and their adolescent disciples.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
