In presenting their art, Srjan under the Directorship of its present guru, Guru Ratikant Mohapatra, in tune with the present times has held the banner of Srjan flying high. Come what may work should continue, is his motto. The guru- who is also the Dean of Facis Sri Sri University- has come forward, with the novel idea of inspiring young Odissi practitioners to go virtual in these pandemic times, with no opportunity to perform in actual proscenium stage.
To satiate their hunger in dancing solo, he has planned out ‘Anuvartanam’ – where young dancers perform from all corners of the world. Today when there is a trend to hold group choreographic work, the solo dancer often is lost. To turn even the worst of times to his advantage is Guru Ratikant Mohapatra’s forte. Since all programmes are now virtual, he saw in it an opportunity to nurture solo performances every weekend, starting from July till the end of December 2020.
This idea helped him to give newcomers a foothold when they are on the threshold of launching their career as professional dancers. In this endeavour, he has also included seniors to give a sense of importance to the fresh. He created such a stir that dancers from Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Bangalore, New Delhi, Mumbai and from every nook and corner of the world responded to perform virtually. A lot of discipline, on the part of the performers, has gone into this kind of exposure. This is going to be the new normal till a vaccine for Covid is available.
Pallavi, which is a raga based pure dance in the Odissi repertoire, was found to be a favourite of young aspirants, while abhinaya pieces, which are rather challenging was taken up by senior dancers. Puja Saha, Ashmeeta Bagchi, Priyadarshini Pradhan, Prabhat Kumar Swain, Ranjavati Dey, Chirasre Roy, Namrata Mehta, Anushree Bhattacharya are but the names of a few dancers who performed. Dancers like Seetha Lakshmi from the Temple of Fine Arts, Penang in Malaysia were quite a few from the Temple of Fine Arts from different places whose joyful dances were enjoyable.
Rajib Bhattacharya who practically breathes Odissi excelled in Kalyan Pallabi, showing the intrinsic quality of pure dance of Odissi. Subikash Bhattacharya took up the well-known abhinaya piece, ‘Rase Harimiha’, from Jayadeva’s Geet Govinda.
Senior exponent Madhavi Mudgal was evergreen in the abhinaya piece ‘Prano Sangini re’, where, as the bashful heroine she confides to her sangini about how naughty Banamali had touched her feet, under a pretext. She excelled.
Pranati Mohanty who has been carefully nurtured by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra has a passion for dance and this was clearly visible with her rendition of ‘Manikya Veena’ with perfect stances. This was all the more remarkable, because of her not performing for many years, Harekrushna Dhall from Bhubaneswar performed Adi Shankaracharya’s Ardhanariswar, in the 25th edition. Rajashri Praharaj and Preetisha Mohapatra of Srjan performed a duet to the same composition in the 34th edition.
In the 50th episode of Anurvartanam Rajashree Praharaj performed Sitaharan. Sitaharan is Rajasree’s signature number. In it, she has perfected the dance to a high level of polish in all its intricate details. Sita’s story of love and betrayal has been reproduced by her time and again, with each performance bettering her previous. Her learnt technique has truly blossomed. In spite of the Lakshman Rekha drawn round her threshold, the inevitable happens and the saga continues.
Veteran Odissi exponent Meera Das regaled the audience with her abhinaya piece, ‘Sakhi hey kesi Madanaudaram’, asking her sakhi to bring the killer of Kesi to her. Her hasta mudras blended gracefully with her physical movements and love-filled expression.
Ileana Citarishti, a direct disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra performed an expressional dance to an Odia song, in the 30th episode with great zeal.
On Sunday, the 27th Of December, the dance world faced a crisis when eminent critic Dr. Sunil Kothari breathed his last. Guru Ratikant Mohapatra dedicated the 56th episode of Anuvartanam in his memory. Mardala player Guru Satchidanand Das kept the audience enthralled with his recital.
Dancing solo is challenging. The episodes of Anuvartanam, in its effort to nurture solo dancing, will go down the annals of history.
