BHUBANESWAR: The 28th edition of the OMC Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award Festival concluded on Friday with the conferment of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra (GKCM) Award on Niranjan Rout and Ramhari Das for their lifetime achievement in the fields of Odissi dance and music respectively.
The GKCM Yuva Prativa Samman, which focuses on reviving the all-important role of the solo artiste in the classical idiom, was given to Geetanjali Acharya and Matru Prasad Das for Odissi dance and Odissi music (vocal) respectively, in recognition of their inspiring performances and commitment to their art.
The highlight of the concluding evening was the presentation of an Odissi dance ballet ‘Ravan’ choreographed by Ratikant Mohapatra, founder of the host organisation Srjan. Defying the popular notion of Ravana, the Odissi production presented a novel understanding of the epic Ramayana. Mohapatra donned the central role of Ravana.
In fact, the five-day long festival was a rich amalgamation of classical dance and music. The festival this year was dedicated to the doyen of Kathak, the late Pandit Birju Maharaj. Opening with performances by famed flautist Ronu Mojumdar and percussionist Ustad Taufiq Qureshi, the festival featured many aesthetically performed classical dance and music presentations.
Be it Odissi vocal recital by Sushree Sristi Swarupa Mishra, Bharatanatyam performance by Vidushi Geeta Chandran and her ensemble, Carnatic vocal recital by Sikkil C Gurucharan or Paramita Maitra and her Kathak ensemble. Another high point of the festival was the Shivagni ensemble which seamlessly fused the classical, contemporary, creative, and experimental musical genres.