Utsav Educational and Cultural Society (New Delhi) celebrates its thirty seventh year of fruitful existence with the festival “Saare Jahan Se Accha festival” for two consecutive days, 13 and 14th August as a mark of tribute to the martyrs and achievers of the nation with classical music and dance, at the Stein auditorium, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.
Veteran Odissi exponent and mentor, Guru Ranjana Gauhar, Padmashree and SNA awardee, heads the Utsav Educational and Cultural Society, that organizes three major festivals in a year, Unbound Beats of India for young dancers, Su-Tarang for young dancers and also to celebrate World Dance Day and Saare Jahan Se Accha as a cultural tribute to our great country. Guru Ranjana imparts training to several dance aspirants and also holds the distinction of participating in several prestigious festivals both in India and overseas
The programme commenced with Bankim Chandra Chattopadhya’s “Vande Mataram” as a tribute to our motherland by the disciples of Guru Ranjana Gauhar with music set by Saroj Mohanty and choreography by Guru Ranjana Gauhar, in the Odissi dance style. The dancers featured were Swati Sharma, Urjaswi Dutta, Sruti Baroah, Shambhavi Gupta, Lavanya Chugh, Debdyati Mukherjee and Kashin Sinha. Raas Rang is the dance in the forest, as visualized by the devotee, who appears as the Sutradhar and visualizes Krishna dancing in the forest who eventually meets Radha and they dance in blissful union. The Sutradhar was played by Vinod Kevin Bachan and Krishna was enacted by Vrinda Chadha and Radha was by Archesha Arya. Choreography by Guru Ranjan Gauhar,assisted by Kevin. Music by Sukant Kundu and composition by Dhaneshwar Swain with lyrics in Odia and Sanskrit by Naba Krishna Mishra.
The highlight of the Odissi presentation was the dance drama “Ksheer Sagar” – the might of the Ocean, pertaining to two mythological narratives, daughter of the ocean Chandrabhaga and the Matsya avatara of Lord Vishnu was presented, by senior disciples like Vinod Kevin B and Vrinda Chadha. Chandrabhaga is the beautiful daughter of the ocean, she is spotted by both Surya and Kamdev, Surya tries to win her by force, she is frightened and ultimately takes a tragic refuge in the ocean. The Matsya avatara appears to preserve the environment and to save nature with fundamental elements necessary to sustain life. It was a fine spectacle to watch the dancers dancing with fine uniformity, elegance and vibrancy.
On this occasion the Utsav Lifetime Achievement award was presented to outstanding personalities like Guru Gitanjali Lal, Asha Modi and Dr Uma Rele of Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya in Mumbai.
On the second day, Bharata natyam by the disciples of Dr Sandhya Purecha, chairperson of Sangeet natak Akademi. Kathak by Sangeeta Chatterjee and group and Manipuri by Guru Shyam Singh and group was presented.
Bharatanatyam performance commenced with Sapta Tandavam from Shiva Tatvanidhi featuring Ananda, Sabdhya, Uma,Gauri, Kalika, Tripura and Samhara Tandavam incorporating the varied facets and glory of Lord Shiva. Besides the number in Praise of Lord Vithoba, the sparkling dancers concluded with the Mangalam Shloka and Vande Mataram. THe dancers were Chitra Dalvi, Shanti Mohanty, Sanika Shinde and Suhani Dhanki.
Manipuri by the disciples of Guru Shyam Singh, featured Pung Cholam with Sankirtan music, Basanta Ras and Dhol Cholam. The dancers both males and females commenced with invocation to Lord Krishna, the seasonal beauty depicted in Basanta Ras and the rhythmic percussion delight was the drum music in Dhol Cholam along with the acrobatic jumps that won them instant applause from the audience.
Sangeeta Chatterjee is a fine kathak dancer, she performed Kesariyua Bharat, incorporating the elements of Bhava, Raga and Tala in the three different expositions, winning the appreciation of the audience. On the whole it was a fine festival organised by Utsav Educational and Cultural Society.
