Bhubaneswar: The 11th edition of two-day-long Gotipua Utsav & Aradhana Samman 2022, organised by Aradhana Dance Academy at Bhanjakala Mandap in Bhubaneswar concluded on January 11.
Young and talented vocalist Sarveshwar Baithari and his team gave the inaugural evening a befitting start by presenting some selected Odissi Bhabangas.
Next, award giving ceremony was held. After the customary lighting the lamp ceremony, attended by guests like…., Guru Bimbadhar Pradhan, Manmath Satpathy and Guru Govind Pal were awarded with Aradhana Samman, Odisha Gouraba Samman and Gotipua Smruti Samman respectively.
The cultural evening witnessed some scintillating performances. The Gotipua dancers of Aradhana Dance Academy presented a Mangalacharan, then followed it up with ‘Dekhago Radha Madhaba Chali’ and concluded with the traditional ‘Bandha Nrutya’. The flexibility of their bodies is seen to be believed.
Next, the dancers of Nrutya Darshan Academy presented ‘Nayika’, choreographed by Guru Biswajit Das, music composed by Agnimitra Behera and rhythm composed by Guru Dhaneswar Swain. Nine talented dancers-three male and six females-left the art lovers hooked to their seats by their well-rehearsed performance.
The concluding item was an Odissi dance drama ‘Nirvana’. In this item, choreographed by Sachikanta Pradhan and music composed by Guru Sukant Kumar Kundu, the dancers beautifully depicted the four stages of a human being through the life story of Goutam Buddha.
The second evening of the festival started with Gotipua dance presented by the dancers of Swastishree Gotipua Odissi Nrutya Parishad, Raghurajpur, Puri. Their performances included ‘Shiva Vandana’, ‘Singha Bahini’ and ‘Bandha’.
Next, some distinguished personalities were felicitated after the customary lighting the lamp ceremony attended by guests like former member of Odisha Revenue Board, Ashok Kumar Tripathi, former Mumbai police DG Arup Patnaik, Dr Rajendra Nath Samantaray and editor of Abhinandanika Shyam Prakash Senapati. The felicitated personalities were Sanjay Choudhary (Aradhana Samman), Smt Sreemayee Sweta Snigdha Mishra (Odisha Gouraba Samman), Guru Sricharan Bhol ( Aradhana Gotipua Samman) and Prabodh Kumar Rath (Odisha Gouraba Samman).
The cultural evening started with a group Odissi dance recital ‘Ganesh Vandana’ presented by the students of Aradhana Dance Academy. The item was choreographed by Guru Chitrasen Swain, music composed by Muralidhar Swain and Guru Chitrasen Swain and rhythm by Ajay Chaudhary and Sitakanta Jena. Doing justice to the choreography, the cast a magical spell on the audience.
The following item was a group Odissi dance by the students of Biswanath Sangeetalaya, Cuttack. Their item was ‘Vande Tripura Sundari’, set to Raga Raga Malika and Tala Tala Malika, dance choreography by Guru Dipti Routray, music composed by Guru Pradeep Kumar Ray, rhythm composed by Guru Dhaneswar Swain and script by Pandit Nityananda Mishra.
This item stood out for the dancers’ synchronisation and stage management.
The next performers were the dancers of Udra Dance Academy who presented ‘Vande Mataram’, choreographed by Ramesh Chandra Jena, music composed by Ramesh Chandra Jena and K Ramarao Patra and rhythm composed by Guru Dhaneswar Swain. It was a feast for both trained and untrained eyes. The concluding item was a Sambalpuri folk dance ‘Rasarkeli’, presented by the dancers of Aradhana Dance Academy.
The emcee of both evenings was Biswajit Baliarsingh.
Notably, Aradhana Dance Academy, one of the premier cultural institutions of Odisha, was established by Guru Snehaprava Samantray and Chitrasen Swain in the year 2019.
