Bhubaneswar: Tridhara, founded by none other than Guru Debaprasad Das, observed 35th edition of ‘Debasmruti’ at Rabindra Mandap in Odisha’s capital city Bhubaneswar on December 20.
This festival of Odissi dance is observed every year in remembrance of the maestro.
The driving force behind Tridhara, Dr Guru Gajendra Panda, who is one of those disciples who had the blessings of learning Odissi dance under the direct supervision of Guruji, has been organising ‘Debasmruti’ every year.
After the customary lighting the lamp ceremony, scintillating performances were presented one after the other, holding the connoisseurs and common audience in complete thrall.
The opening item was ‘Indrakruta Mahalaxmi Astaka’, presented by dancers of Tridhara, music composed by Guru Gopal Chandra Panda, rhythm composed by Guru Sachidanand Das, vocal by Sangeeta Panda and dance direction by Dr Guru Gajendra Panda.
Next came a pleasant surprise in the form of Bagmishree Das, the granddaughter of Guruji. Exhibiting a tremendous body control, excellent facial and eye movements, she presented ‘Meena Nayana Kshina Hebani Mobina’, a purushanga abhinaya Kabi Bhagirath and is one of the finest compositions of Guruji. In this vipralamba sringara, she was par excellent in depicting how a Nayaka is longing for his Nayeeka who is far away. The following item was ‘Sthayee’, brought by some of the talented dancers of Nrutya Sridhara, a Sarangarh, Chhattisgarh, based dance institution. The item was composed by Guru Gajendra Panda and directed by Arya Nande, a disciple of Guru Gajendra Panda.
The students of Nrityadhara, Bilaspur, presented ‘Uthilu Ede Begi Kanhiki Re Dukhidhana’, written by Kabi Gopal Krishna which was composed by Dr Guru Gajendra Panda and directed by Anchal Pandey. Guru Pushpita Mukherjee’s group presentation ‘Panchadeba Stutee’ and ‘Kalabati Pallavi’ and Sumayee Mukherjee’s solo presentation ‘Shiva Stutee’ captivated the audience.
The penultimate item of the evening was a Kathak presentation by Swati Agrawal and group from Jaipur. They presented ‘Krishna Vandana’ and followed it up by pure dance ‘Tarana’
The last item of the evening was ‘Vande Mataram’, celebrating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
While sculptor Padma Vibhushan awardee Sudarshan Sahu inaugurated the evening, director of Bhubaneswar and Sambalpur Doordarshan centre Deepti Mishra, HOD, dance department of Rabindra Bharati University Dr Pushpita Mukherjee, chief executive of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Research Center Dr Sangeeta Gosain, chief executive of Paradip Phosphate Limited Sudhi Ranjan Mishra, vice chairperson of Indian Institute of Architect, Odisha chapter, Swapnadatta Mohanty attended the evening as guests who spoke about Guruji’s style and his contribution to the world of Odissi dance.
By kalasanskruti
Photo courtesy: Tridhara
