Braving odds, Sonali came up trumps
Launching of the high profile Indian Council of Cultural Affair’s Orissa Chapter at Cuttack this year has raised high hopes from the artistes’ fraternity of the State. It’s a matter of cheer for the connoisseurs and the community of artistes that that ICCR has just started hosting its monthly concert series for the Capital. While the first concert of the series last month presented Cuttack-based young singer Trupty Panda who specialises in rendering Rabindra Sangeet in Oriya, it was the turn of hearing-impaired gifted Odissi dancer Sonali Mohapatra for the event at Rabindra Mandap on Tuesday. A disciple of eminent Guru Durga Charan Ranbir, Sonali, now 30, was a victim of wrong administration of medicine when she was five years old that adversely affected her hearing capacity. And yet, braving all odds she excelled as an acclaimed Odissi dancer despite her inability to hear the sound of music – so essential for footwork and expressions. Her guru apart – who had the patience and conviction to train her - father Nirmal Mohapatra, a former programme executive with the Doordarshan and an amateur music composer and flutist-husband Abhiram Nanda have been her perennial source of support and encouragement that went into the making of a highly promising dancer in the distinct Debaprasad Das gharana of Odissi. Supported by live music, Sonali’s one and half hours of recital commenced with Sri Ram Vandana in the customary mangalacharan for which dance and music were composed by Guru Ranbir and vocalist Sukant Kundu respectively. Shedding her initial nervousness, she was back into her natural grace and fluidity in her next presentation – Chakrabaka pallabi – a pure dance number choreographed by Ranbir with father Nirmal Mohapatra scoring the music. And she was at her best in the abhinaya number that followed – kede chhanda janelo sahi – depicting mother Yashoda wondering over kid Krishna’s super-human qualities – a classic choreographic composition by late Debaprasad. Be it the loving and caring mother Yasoda, the naughty Krishna pleading innocence or the devil Putana in disguise to kill Krishna; Sonali executed it all with an amazing degree of neatness and intensity with an ability to quickly come under the skin of the character. She went ahead with Addhanariswara – the concept of manifestation of the masculine and feminine aspects in a single body as visualised by Adi Shankaracharya – followed by Yahi Madhaba, Yahi Keshaba – an expressional dance number from Jayadev’s famous Gita Govinda – to conclude with a very brief mokshya – the concluding number in Odissi repertoire where the dancer becomes the dance and thus attains liberation. It was amazing that Sonali had the stamina to dance well for nearly 90 minutes – a rare quality seen among the dancers of her generation. Sonali had the best of accompanists for her show – Guru Ranbir conducting the recital and on manjira, Sukanta Kundu (vocal), Niranjan Patra (mardal), Swapneswar Chakraborty (sitar) and hubby Abhiram Nanda on the magical flute.