Bhubaneswar: Every year, the standard of Samarpan Samaroh festival is improving. Anyone who has been coming to this festival will agree with me.
The festival is jointly organised by Nrutyanilaya and Nrutyankita, two premier Odissi dance institutions of the state run by two talented Odissi dancers-Swapnarani Sinha and Dr Ankita Rath respectively.
This year’s festival, held at Rabindra Mandap in Bhubaneswar on July 22, was divided into two sessions- afternoon and evening sessions.
Though I lost the opportunity to witness the afternoon session, I could make it to the evening session.
When I reached the auditorium, most of the seats had already been occupied, despite the fact that it was raining outside.
This gives credence to the increasing popularity of the festival.
After the customary lighting the lamp ceremony attended by Dillip Routray, Director of Department of Odia Language, Literature and Culture, Govt of Odisha; Arun Kumar Behera, Additional Secretary, Department of Steel and Mines, Govt of Odisha; Prabodh Rath, Secretary of Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi; Kishore Dwibedi, journalist and chairman of World Odisha Society; Guru Durga Charan Ranbir, eminent Odissi dance guru and SNA and OSNA awardee Mardal Guru Dhaneshwar Swain and Hemant Kumar Dash, retired special secretary to Government of Odisha, the felicitation ceremony began. Noted Odissi dancer Aloka Kanungo was felicitated with Guru Samarpan Samman 2023 for her contribution to the field of Odissi dance.
The cultural evening’s first item ‘Sabda Ranga’ set the tone of the festival. The name of the item is enough to tell that it is a colourful blend of sounds-sound of the Mardala, sound of the ‘Ghunghru’, sound of the ‘Manjira’ and sound of the ‘Mrudanga’-and dance, concept and rhythm composition by Guru Dhaneshwar Swain, music composition by Guru Sukanta Kumar Kundu and dance choreographed by Guru Swapnarani Sinha.
Based on Raga Hansadhwani, Kalyan and Tilan and Tala Aditala, the item’s mainstay was ‘sabdaswarapata’. The senior and junior dancers of Nrutyanilaya-Jasobanta Samal, Rati Ranjan Amanta, Anisha Sinha, Tejaswini Sahu, Anoushka Mahakud, Swarnanki Das, Pinaki Das, Lopamudra Mishra, Sangeeta Pradhan, Anushka Saha, Chinmayee Sahu, Poulomi Das and Lavanya Das- did a wonderful job, leaving the audience hooked to their seats. Light design by Deviprasad Mishra added colour to the presentation.
The second item was an Abhinaya from 12th century poet Jayadeva’s Geeta Govinda, ‘Dheera Sameere Yamuna Tire’, presented by Sarita Mishra, a lissome dancer from Bengaluru. She was excellent depicting how the sakhi entreats Radha to join Krishna who is waiting for her at the Yamuna, looking for her footstep in every falling of leaf. The item, choreographed by Sarita herself and music composed by Srinivas Satpathy and rhythm composed by Guru Bijay Kumar Jena, is set to Raga Mohana and Tala Aditala.
The third item was an Abhinaya ‘Pheri Ja Shyama’, presented by Dr Ankita Rath.
A doctor by profession and an Odissi dancer by passion, Dr Rath portrayed beautifully the enraged heroine who sees signs of infidelity and asks Krishna to leave her and join the other woman.
In one of the finest works of the Kabichandra Kali Charan Pattanayak, Khandita nayika Radha says, “Oh Krishna ,your appearence shows that you kept awake last night. Your eyes are red and tired. It is clear that you spent previous night with some other woman. Oh Madhava, enough of your false stories. Please go to that woman who made you happy.”
Set to Raga Mishrakafi and Tala Ektali, the item was choreographed by Guru Swapnarani Sinha, rhythm composition by Guru Dhaneshwar Swain and music composition by Guru Sukanta Kumar Kundu.
A graceful dancer with a splendor body and a set of bright eyes, Dr Rath once again proved that Abhinaya is her forte.
Next came onto the stage was Paulami Chakraborty, a disciple of Guru Aloka Kanungo.
She presented Ganesh Vandana and Basant Pallavi. An empanelled artist of EZCC and Festival of India Abroad at the Ministry of Culture, Govt of India, Chakraborty’s presentations were a treat to both trained and untrained eyes. Her facial expressions, neat body movements and stage management need special mention.
The following item was ‘Ardhanariswara’, by Soumya Bose, a disciple of Guru Sujata Mohapatra. Guru Mohapatra, who was in the audience, must be delighted to see her disciple execute the presentation to a tee.
Next, Guru Durga Charan Ranbir’s disciple Sourav Mohanty performed to a composition from Jayadeva’s Geeta Govinda ‘Priye Charushile’. In the item, Sourav did justice to Rahul Acharya’s choreography by bringing the erotic moments of Geeta Govinda on stage, aesthetically.
Sourav has been bestowed with everything that a dancer should have like a supple torso and a pair of impressive eyes and if he continues his practice with the same dedication, there is no denying that he would have a bright future.
The concluding item was a group presentation ‘Shrita Kamala Kucha Mandala’ by the dancers of Nrutyankita. The highlight of the presentation was the dancers’ brilliant use of stage space. The dancers were Shivani Pattnaik, Reetushree Behera, Soumyashree Behera, Pratyusha Swayamsmita Behera, Tapaswyee Jena, Saberi Sachin Jadhav, Janaki Murmu and Aradhya Panda.
While Deviprasad Mishra’s light design need special mention, Dr Mrityunjay Rath’s anchoring was both entertaining and informative.
The art lovers and common audience had an engrossing viewing experience as they sat till the last performance.
I left the auditorium with a wish to watch yet another improved version of the festival next year.
Photo courtesy: Soulful Odisha
