Bengaluru: The fifth edition of Kadambari Utsav, organised by Kadambari School of Odissi Dance and held at Seva Sadan auditorium, Malleswaram on August 26, was a treat for the eyes and food for the souls.
One thing what I noticed is the festival is improving every year, in terms of performances as well as the way it is being organised.
The festival commenced with the auspicious lighting the lamp ceremony attended by guests.
The evening’s first item was Mangalacharan ‘Guru Brahma…’, presented by the disciples of Guru Karishma Ahuja, whose brainchild is the Kadambari Utsav. The item was set to raga Ragamalika and tala Ektali and choreographed by Guru Ratikant Mohapatra. The well-trained artistes set the festive mood in motion by giving a neat performance.
Next, the disciples of Guru Karishma Ahuja presented ‘Basant Pallavi’, set to raga Basant and tala Ektali and choreographed by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. The dancers’ space management and body movements were excellent.
The third item of the day was a group presentation by tiny trots of the Kadambari School of Odissi Dance. They presented the basic steps of Odissi dance, particularly the chauka, one of the basic stances used in Odissi dance.
The following item was ‘Sthayee’, a pure dance piece presented by senior dancers of Kadambari School of Odissi Dance. The item was choreographed by Guru Pankaj Charan Das. The presentation was so arresting that for sometime I felt the sculptures on the walls of temples came alive on the stage.
Then, Guru Karishma Ahuja came onto the stage and performed two items. She commenced her recital with a Pallavi- Yugmadwanda Pallavi, based on raga Bageshree and tala Ektali and the item was choreographed by Guru Ratikant Mohapatra. She followed it up with a performance to Jayadeva’s Geeta Govinda ‘Srita Kamala Kucha Mandala’, based on tala Ektali and Jati and raga Khamaj. This recital, a composition of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, describes the beauty of Lord Krishna.
Bestowed with all the qualities of an Odissi dancer, Karishma in both items kept the art lovers spellbound throughout the performances.
The penultimate item of the day was presented by the guest artiste ChingHan-Weng, an Odissi dancer who came all the way from Taiwan.
The founder of Taiwan Odissi Promotion Center, Weng presented ‘Sakhi He’, an ashtapadi from Jayadeva’s Geeta Govinda, dance choreographed by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra.
From the very beginning of her recital, she easily engaged the connoisseurs with her neat and clean dance and communicative and expressive abhinaya, depicting how Radha requests her friends to bring Krishna to her.
The last item of the day was a real visual treat. After Odissi performances, it was a Kathak recital presented by Guru Smt Keka Sinha, the founder director of Kalapi Centre for Performing Arts who came from Mumbai. Commencing her performance with a naman to kathakars, she went on to present ‘thaat’, ‘Layakari’, ‘Toda’, ‘Paran’ and ‘Tihai’. In the expressional aspect, she presented peacock gat (the gait of peacock) and Ghunghat gat depicting three different nayikas. She followed it up with an abhinaya on Thumri and concluded with footwork.
Kadambari Utsav is an initiative of the Kadambari School of Odissi Dance set up in 2019 with an aim to give an impetus to the established and upcoming artistes from various Indian classical art forms.
