Bhubaneswar: This year’s Saptashajya Samman was conferred on Padma Shri recipient Guru Durga Charan Ranbir at the eleventh edition of the two-day Saptashajya Festival, held at Rabindar Mandap in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.
Organised by Devanshi Dance Academy, the festival’s earlier editions were hosted in Dhenkanal district. This year, with the aim of providing a platform to its Dhenkanal artistes to perform before the discerning art lovers in the state capital, its founder Guru Gourishankar Dash took it to Bhubaneswar.
The inaugural evening got off to a colourful start with around 50 artistes of Devanshi Dance Academy presenting ‘Heritage of Odisha’. The production wove together the state’s rich cultural tapestry featuring Odissi dance, Mahari dance, Paika dance, Dhemsa dance, Ghumura dance, Ghuduki dance, Medha dance and last but not the least Sambalpuri dance. The seamless integration of these diverse traditions stood as a testimony to Guru Gourishankar Dash’s choreographic brilliance.
In the audience, there were Dhenkanal’s king Brig KP Singhdeo, his consort Smt Sabitri Devi, Odissi dancers and art lovers who remained glued to their seats without getting their eyes off the stage.
Next, the evening proceeded to the lighting of the auspicious lamp by Dhenkanal’s king Brig KP Singhdeo, his consort Smt Sabitri Devi; former advisor, Higher Education Department, Dr Tanmay Swain; social activist Abinash Samal, vice president of UAL Ranjit Burnwal and works manager of UAL Khirod Kumar Behera.
The spotlight then shifted to felicitation ceremony. Upholding its tradition of felicitating a Padma awardee with the Saptashajya Samman, the award was conferred upon Guru Durga Charan Ranbir.
Similarly, Saptashajya Youth Icon Award was presented to Subhasis Sharma and Surmayee Mohapatra for acting, Pragyan Hota and Soumya Ranjan Joshi for music, Biswajit Das for dance and Srijeet Satpathy for direction.
Thereafter, the evening unfolded into a bouquet of scintillating performances. Keeping the momentum alive, six well trained dancers of the institution presented a vibrant Sambalpuri dance ‘Kala Kanhu’, followed by a scintillating ‘Jhumar’, a folk dance form of Mayurbhanj district, presented by 12 artistes.
Adding further colour to the evening, the art lovers were treated to scintillating Kathak performances by five artistes of Likhita Sethee and Group from Rourkela. The group, established in 2018 by Likhita, a disciple of Bidushi Surashree Bhatacharya, has been performing at prestigious festivals in and outside the state.
The group led by Likhita opened their recital with a ‘Shiv Stutee’ in teentaal, executing some techniques like That, Amad, Giniti Ki Tihai, Tukuda, Paran, Chakradar paran etc. This was followed by a Tarana, music composed by Pandit Birju Maharaj and dance choreographed by Bidushi Surashree Bhattacharya.
The artistes’ intricate footwork and graceful spins left the audience spellbound.
The evening drew to a graceful close with a group Odissi recital by six well-trained artistes of Adruta Children Home. They presented ‘Namami Krushna Sundaram’, choreographed by Guru Bharat Charan Giri.
With remarkable precision, the dancers narrated different episodes from Krishna’s childhood pranks to the slain of Kamsa, striking an instant chord with the connoisseurs.
