Berhampur: Utkalika Nrutya Anusthan, a premier Odissi dance institution in Berhampur, organised 3rd Nrutyameba Jayate festival and 7th Foundation Day celebration at Diamond Jubilee Town Hall in Berhampur, from 9am to 9pm on October 8.
While the morning session witnessed celebration of Nrutyameba Jayate festival, the evening session was dedicated to the celebration of foundation day of the institution, founded by young and talented Odissi dancer Sekhar Suman Majhi.
The 3rd Nrutyameba Jayate festival featured some scintillating performances presented by as many as 150 artistes invited from inside and outside the state. This segment of the ceremony was attended by guests like chairperson of Odisha Building and Other Construction Welfare Board Ramesh Chandra Chau Patnaik, chairman of Berhampur Development Authority (BeDA) Subas Maharana, advocate Prakash Chandra Dash, educationist Lopa Samal and litterateur B Satyam Achari.
The second half of the programme comprised felicitation ceremony and foundation day celebration.
After the customary lighting the lamp ceremony, the felicitation ceremony started. Pt K Ramarao Patra and Acharya Guru Simanchal Das were honoured with Utkalika Samman-2022. Similarly, Guru Pankaj Kumar Pradhan received Utkalika Yuva Pratibha Samman-2022.
Among others, Padma Shri awardee Krishna Mohan Pathi, Berhampur legislator Bikram Kumar Panda, district culture officer (DCO) Jiten Kumar Parida, DIPRO Rabinarayan Behera, former DCO Krushna Chandra Nishank, Dr Sudhanshu Pati and noted Odissi dancer Jayant Kumar Acharya.
The cultural evening enthralled a packed audience.
The evening started with an Odissi dance recital. The students of the institution presented Mangalacharan, ‘Guruashtakam’, choreographed by Sekhar Suman Majhi. The synchronisation among the dancers was seen to be believed.
The following items were a solo Veena recital by Pratik Patnaik, a duet Mardala recital by Soumya Ranjan Nayak and Madhav Srinandan Sahu, Odissi vocal by Bata Gopal Tripathi, Sthayee by the students of the host institution Utkalika Nrutya Anusthan, Sambalpuri folk dance by junior dancers of the institution and Moksha by senior disciples of Sekhar Suman Majhi.
The main attraction of the evening was Sekhar Suman Majhi’s solo presentation. It was ‘Kedargouda Pallavi, choreographed by himself. His lyrical body movements and outstanding stage management gave the audience an engrossing viewing experience.
These apart, the guest performers of the evening was Radheshyam Tarai from Purusottampur who presented a stunning Kuchipudi performance and students of Odissi Nrutyayana, who presented a scintillating group presentation. Odissi Nrutyayana is a dance institution based in Berhampur, founded by Sibaram Barik.
