Once credited as the cultural capital of Orissa and considered as the cradle of Orissa’s culture for centuries, Cuttack’s annual cultural calendar today is quite dull and depressing in comparison to its neighbouring Bhubaneswar.
Yet, without having proper patronage and infrastructure, some of the cultural institutions of the Millennium City have been trying their best to add colour to the canvas. Gunjan Dance Academy founded and led by Odissi dancer Meera Das is one among the few.
Gunjan has been hosting an annual dance festival for the past 14 years but the just concluded edition was distinctly different and special. It not only invited nationally known artistes but also embraced music as its regular feature. Besides, it opened its doors to contemporary dance and music apart from fusion and experimentation. It was a beautiful blend of the classical and the contemporary arts.
As a befitting tribute to Orissa’s saint poet Jayadev and Cuttack-based legendary singer Bhikari Bal who passed away recently, noted Odissi music composer and singer Ramahari Das, disciple of Bhikari Bal, recited Jayadev’s Geet Govind and some of the most popular bhajans of Bhikari Bal that marked the beginning of the festival on Friday.
The inaugural evening further featured new compositions of Meera Das - Soorya, Dasavarata and Om Shanti - presented by the Gunjan troupe. And the highlight of the evening was contemporary dance presentation by the Trivandrum-based Samudra Group led by dancer-choreographer Madhu Gopinath.
The concluding evening was even more exciting with the Manipuri drummer-dancers led by Premjeet Singh and the Bangalore-based Inner Vision Music group of noted Oriya flutist-composer Annada Prasanna Patnaik. Samudra troupe’s presentation of Shiva in contemporary dance vocabulary was also captivating while Meera’s disciples staged another impressive group presentation of her composition Soorya.
And the grand finale was staged together by the trio - Madhu Gopinath, Meera Das and Annada Prasanna Patnaik - who presented a fusion concert of dance and music much to the cheer of the connoisseurs.