Bhubaneswar: The seventh edition of two-day-long Barnali Festival was inaugurated at Utkal Rangamanch on the premises of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Research Centre in Bhubaneswar on Thursday.
This festival is the annual festival of Rudrakshya Foundation, one of the premier Odissi dance institutions of the state. It was established in 2000 by Guru Bichitrananda Swain.
The first evening of the festival had guests like Dr Sita Kantha Dash, chairman of Kalinga Hospital Ltd., Guru Dr Snehaprava Samantray, eminent Odissi dancer and Smt Sumitra Jena, a noted social activist who inaugurated the evening by lighting the auspicious lamp.
The cultural evening started with a musical programme titled ‘Malhar’ by Malhar Band. The band started its presentation with a Shiva Vandana based on Raga Bairagi. For the next 15 minutes, they held sway over the audience, giving a befitting start to the evening.The members of the band were Satyaban Sethi on the Sitar, Bedamati Panda on the Sitar, Chandan Sethi on the Violin, Krishna Chhatriya on the drums, Rohit Pradhan on the Mardala, Rajesh Jena on the Tabla, Rakesh Kumar Nayak on the Dholak and Sanjay Kumar Swain on the Keyboard.
This band has performed at many prestigious festivals in and outside the state.
The second item of the evening was a solo Odissi dance recital presented by Minakshi Rani Jena. A disciple of Guru Lingaraj Swain, Jena presented ‘Navarasa’. However, she performed only five rasas such as Veera, Hasya, Bhaya, Roudra and Shanta, incorporating different episodes from the Ramayan. The item was choreographed by Guru Gangadhar Pradhan, music composed by Guru Gopal Chandra Panda and rhythm composed by Guru Banamali Maharana.
The following item was a solo Bharatnatyam recital by young and talented dancer Rittik Bhattacharya from Kolkata.Trained in both Kalakshetra and Tanjore styles under the tutelage of Guru Shri Rajdeep Banerjee and Guru Smt Sivangi respectively, Rittik commenced his recital with a kirtanam ‘Mahadeva Shiva Sambhoo’, based on Raag Revathi and Taal Adi. Here, Rittik narrated the episode of Ganga avataran so nicely that the common audience had no difficulties to understand what was happening in front of them.He followed it up with a Thilaana, a pure dance based on Raag Purvi and Taal Rupakam.Tillana is a rhythmic piece in carnatic music that is generally performed at the end of a concert and widely used in Indian classical dance performances.
The concluding item of the evening was a group Odissi dance recital ‘Shakyamuni’, presented by the well-trained dancers of Rudrakshya Foundation.
Nine male and six female dancers of the host institution narrated the story of Goutam Buddha from his birth to his enlightenment. The dancers were Dushasan Sahoo, Debabrata Behera, Manas Ranjan Sahoo, Santosh Ram, Samir Kumar Panigrahi, Sanjeeb Jena, Prashant Kuanr, Biswajit Jena, Basistha Jena, Rosy Swain, Sonali Dash, T Tulika Reddy, Suchismita Sahoo, Lopamudra Sahoo apnd Anjali Dash. The scene of pall bearers carrying a body and then performing the last ritual moved the audience.
The item was choreographed by Guru Bichitrananda Swain, music composed by Srijan Chatterjee and rhythm composed by Guru Dhaneswar Swain.
The anchor of the evening was Er Dr Srinivas Ghatuary.
