WITH an unprecedented publicity and patronage pouring in for Odissi dance following a growing global craze for it, the State capital is now dotted with innumerable Odissi schools. But few of these institutions have a strategy to groom their students to establish their own identity as soloists.
An exception has, however, been the decade old Suravi Odissi dance school founded by the young Guru Pitambar Biswal who has the distinction of grooming the maximum number of dancers after the well-known Orissa Dance Academy founded by Guru Gangadhar Pradhan.
The festival featured about 50 budding dancers of the institute in solo, duet and ballet formats besides presenting two new choreographic works of Guru Biswal – Madhubanti pallabi as a group composition and Devi stutee in duet depicting Goddess Durga.
Four senior students of Suravi were presented as soloists this year before the audience – Lipsa Dash, Raseswari Mohanty, Amrita Patsani and Aurosmita Acharya – who successfully attempted to prove their potentials in the expressional aspect of dancing (abhinaya). It was indeed amazing to discover the talent of these dancers as solo performers who were often been seen performing in groups. And it was also equally exciting for the artistes to prove themselves.
Mention must be made about two budding dancers of Suravi – Dibyashree Panda and Arpita Pani – who executed the duet Durga Stutee with an amazing degree of intensity and maturity besides being part of the group presentations during the evening. These two girls in their early teens appeared promising.
