Agartala: The 5th edition of Uttaran Odissi Nritya Utsav 2024 was held at Town Hall in Agartala, the capital city of Tripura, on December 20.
Every year, the festival is organised by Chitrakala Dance Academy, a premier Odissi dance institution of the state founded by eminent Odissi dancer Pinki Debbarma.
Young as well as established dancers are invited to the festival, making it memorable for the art lovers of the city.
This year’s festival witnessed some scintillating performances. The auspicious lighting the lamp ceremony was attended by Jharna Debbarma, Chairperson of Mahila Commission, Tripura as the chief guest and Kalyan Dasgupta, secretary of Shri Aravinda Shri Maa Ashram and Smt Panchali Debbarma, secretary of Kompuli Cultural Academy as honourable guests.
The cultural evening featured solo Odissi presentations by Biswabhushan Champatiray from Bhubaneswar and Dr Anjana Mayee Saikia from Guwahati, Assam, solo Kathak dance by Joydeep Malakar from Agartala and duet Odissi presentations by Anita Bhoi and Debashree Das from Cuttack, Jyotishma Potangi & Bishal Dwaka from Tezpur, Assam and Saveri Sinha (Mishra) from Agartala.
They apart, the artistes of Ridvam Academy, Belinia, Tripura and Shinjini Dance Academy, Agartala, Tripura cast a magical spell on the audience with their Bharatnatyam recitals. The artistes of Kadamb Dance Academy, Agartala; Rang Nitya Dance Academy, Agartala and Lam Yamba (Pioneer) presented group Bharatnatyam, Bharatnatyam, Kathak, folk and Manipuri dance presentations respectively.
However, 13-year-old Bristi Majumdar stole the show. She is daughter of Pinki Debbarma and disciple of Guru Smt Nilanjana Mukherjee and Biswabhushan Champatiray.
She presented ‘Vakratunda Mahakaya’, an invocatory piece of Odissi dance repertoire in praise of lord Ganesha as the destroyer of all obstacles who has a huge body with curved trunk and whose splendor is similar to million Suns. The item was composed by Guru Niranjan Rout, music composed by K Rama Rao Patra and dance direction by Biswabhushan Champatiray.
With her excellent facial expressions, body movements and space management, she displayed great promise.A Class VIII student, she has performed at many prestigious festivals in India and abroad and won appreciations from dance enthusiasts and critics.Her mother, Pinki Debbarma, who has done her MA in Music and Dance from Tripura University, is a B Grade artiste of Doordarshan. She has also performed at many festivals and received many awards and accolades.
