BHUBANESWAR: IN ADDITION to its monthly Horizon concert series that it hosts for the public in the twin cities of the Capital and Cuttack, the Orissa Chapter of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has just come forward to stage shows for the delegates of various national meets besides for different cultural events being hosted in the Capital. The week gone by witnessed two such dance concerts in the Capital – Odissi by the internationally acclaimed Sujata Mohapatra and Mayurbhanj Chhau by the artistes of Mayur Art Centre, Bhubaneswar.
On Friday, the delegates at the Indian Rheumatology Association’s national convention had a taste of the best of Odissi with star soloist Sujata Mohapatra’s hour-long captivating recital. She commenced her performance with mangalacharan, the traditional invocatory presentation, choreographed by her guru and father-in-law legendary Kelucharan Mohapatra. The next two numbers, choreographed by her husband Ratikant Mohapatra – Megh pallabi and Barsha – celebrated the moods of the monsoon. Sujata’s amazing articulation of the movements of the peacock while depicting nature - as depicted by poet Kalidas in the lyric that the choreographer chose for Barsha – emerged as the most memorable sequence of the concert.
She concluded her recital with an innovative interpretation of Odissi dance – tarana. The piece was choreographed by Pune-based Kathak exponent Prerana Deshpande and Sujata for their jugalbandi of Kathak and Odissi and was set to Hindustani music.
The concert on Sunday that ICCR staged at Jayadev Bhawan on the occasion of Sri Jagannath Darshan Samman presentation ceremony showcased the unmasked Chhau dance of Mayurbhanj by the Bhubaneswar-based Mayur Art Centre.
The concert kicked off with the highly dramatised presentation of Chakravyuha choreographed by Achintya Behera and presented by eight dancers. It was based on the story of the killing of the boy-warrior Abhimanyu by seven well-known warriors as described in The Mahabharata. The next presentation – Rasalata – had, however, no martial elements in it. A duet enacted by Ruby and Swetapadma had two female friends who were rejoicing in the season of harvest. The duet had a beautiful blend of folk, tribal tunes and dance movements.
The magnum opus of the evening was, however, the war dance number that was specially choreographed nearly a 100 years ago by Rama Chandra Bhanja, the-then ruler of Mayurbhanj State in honour of the visiting King George V of the British Empire to India in 1912.
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