Bhubaneswar: Odissi dancer Kumkum Mohanty threw a pleasant surprise when she came to the stage and presented ‘Yajnaseni’, based on Jnanpith Award recipient prolific Odia writer Pratibha Ray’s novel, at Rabindra Mandap in Bhubaneswar on May 10.
Known as a master of abhinaya, she cast a magical spell on the art lovers and connoisseurs with her lucid body movements and excellent facial expressions.
The occasion was ‘An Evening of Abhinaya’, a cultural evening organised by Geeta Govinda Charitable Trust, an institute of Odissi dance and music she runs in Bhubaneswar.
After the customary lighting the lamp ceremony, four Odissi dancers-Priyambada Mohanty Hejmadi, Sushama Tej, Bandana Kanungo and Nilima Jena- were felicitated. Writer Pratibha RaB felicitated them. The event was also attended by Khandapada MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik and R Balkrisnan, IAS as guests.
Another attraction of the evening was Sushree Tulika Tripathy, who received initial training from Guru Devi Basu and Guru Kasturi Pattnaik, is now honing her dancing skill under the watchful eyes of Padma Shri recipient Guru Kumkum Mohanty.
A young and talented dancer, Tulika presented ‘Sakhi he kesi mathana mudaram’ from Geeta Govinda, dance composed by Padma Vibhushan recipient Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and music composed by Bhubaneswar Mishra.
Her presentation was a treat for both trained and untrained eyes.
The evening’s first item was Mangalacharan, an invocatory item in Odissi dance. The item was presented by tiny tots of the institution, composed by Guru Kumkum Mohanty.
The second item of the evening was ‘Ki sobha go kunje’, presented by four disciples of Guru Kumkum Mohanty. The next item was ‘To lagi gopa danda’, presented by Anisha Anukampa. The item was choreographed by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and music composed by Bhubaneswar Mishra.
The fourth item of the evening was ‘Mare bana dhara shrabana ki’, presented by Swetaleena Pattanayak and Swayamprabha Mishra. The item was originally choreographed by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra for Kumkum Mohanty and Sanjukta Panigrahi, music composed by Bhubaneswar Mishra.
The following item was ‘Dine dine chaturi’, presented by Prachi Mishra and Lopamudra Nayak. While Guru Kumkum Mohanty choreographed the item, Guru Haramohan Khuntia composed the music.
The sixth item ‘Animada sukhadayi’ was a duet presented by Sagarika Mohapatra and Lucky Prajna Pratisthita Mohanty, dance composed by Guru Kumkum Mohanty and music composed by Guru Haramohan Khuntia.
The seventh item of the evening was by Tulika Tripathy, mentioned above.
The eighth item was a group presentation ‘Radharani sange nache’, presented by Lucky Prajna Pratisthita Mohanty, Swetaleena Pattanayak, Swayamprabha Mishra, Sagarika Mohapatra, Aneesha Anukampa, Lopamudra Nayak and Prachi Mishra. The item was choreographed by Guru Kumkum Mohanty and music composed by Guru Nityananda Mohapatra.
The concluding item of the evening was ‘Yajnaseni’. By the time Guru Kumkum Mohanty presented the item, it was well past nine but the auditorium was still packed to witness her perform on the stage.
The accompanists who lent a good support to the dancers were Srinivas Satapathy on the flute, Agnimitra Behera on the violin, Matruprasad Das and Harapriya Swain on vocal, Soumyakanta Mallik on the manjira and Muralidhara Swain on the mardala.
The emcee of the evening was Dr Mrityunjay Rath.
