Bhubaneswar: The second edition of two-day-long Chhandabibha Dance and Music Festival, organised by Odissi Dance Creation at Bhanjakala Mandap, concluded on Wednesday.
Odissi Dance Creation is a Bhubaneswar based Odissi dance institution founded by young and talented dancer Pankaj Kumar Pradhan.
The evening commenced with an arresting solo Tabla recital presented by Guru Pramod Kumar Sahu, presently working as the HOD of the Tabla department of Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya. His presentation started off with Teen Taal. This was followed with Peshkar, Kayda, Tukda, Chakrataal and different types of Jatis and Gats. He was ably supported by Dhaneswar Ojha on the Harmonium, Diptiranjan Behera and Chittaranjan Sahu on the Tabla.
The second item of the evening was a pleasant surprise in the form of Padma Shri recipient and Odissi exponent Guru Kumkum Mohanty. She presented an abhinaya ‘Yahi Madhava Yahi Keshava’ from Gita Govinda. Her effortless expressions left the audience mesmerized. The item was originally choreographed by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and music composed by Pandit Bhubaneswar Mishra. She was supported on vocal by Haripriya Swain, on the flute by Srinivas Satpathy, on the Mardala by Murali Dhar Swain and on the manjira by Soumya Ranjan.
The following item was a martial dance-Mayurbhanj Chhau, presented by Bhabani Mohanta and Paglu Mohanta of Project Chhauni, Baripada, Mayurbhanj.
The well talented artistes duo presented Kshatriya Bandhu, a traditional item in Mayurbhanj Chhau. In this item, the dancers showed the martial techniques once used by the royal warriors.
The fourth item of the evening was ‘Nitya Jagannath’, where the dancers of Lingaraj Kala Niketan, Puri, beautifully showed different rituals of Lord Jagannath and His siblings including Pahandi rituals. The dancers were Sipra Mishra, Archana Sahoo, Krishna Kaberi Mohapatra, Mamata Bhoi, Geetanjali Swain, Supriya Pallei and Bhagyalakshmi Jena.
The evening ended with a beautiful Sambalpuri folk dance by the dancers of Odissi Dance Creation. While the item was choreographed and directed by Pankaj Kumar Pradhan, the dancers were Budhiram Bhol, Biswajit Mohapatra, Chintamani Luha, Sasmita Sahu, Mamata Bariha and Gangotri Panigrahi.
This year’s Chhandabibha Samman recipients were Guru Kumkum Mohanty, eminent Odissi vocalist Guru Dr Bijay Kumar Jena and eminent Mardala exponent Guru Bijay Kumar Barik.
The anchors of the inaugural and concluding evenings were Dr Srinivas Ghatuary and Anuja Tarini Mishra respectively.
