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 Dancers excel at Nalanda Nrityotsav - Vijay Shanker e-mail: vijaydance@gmail.com January 28, 2022 For the second time, the much awaited Nalanda Nrityotsav for young dancers was presented digitally due to the pandemic. Dancers hailing from various parts of the country and abroad too, look forward to this prestigious festival organized by dance educationist and renowned Mohiniattam dancer Dr. Kanak Rele's Nalanda Dance Research Centre. For more than twenty years, the festival has consistently been organized to provide the necessary impetus for youngsters for a glorious career in classical dancing. Rendering the welcome address, Dr. Kanak Rele said, "Like every year, we organize this festival with the intention of encouraging youngsters who would like to become professional dancers in different styles. This year we have selected 18 dancers and all the dancers are given the participation certificate. This is not a competition but the dancers who excel are provided with the Nalanda Nritya Nipuna title. We have received many applications but it is not possible to accommodate everyone, hence we have to eliminate and select the better ones. Our best wishes for everyone." The four day festival commenced on Makara Sankranti on 14th January and concluded on 17th January, featuring 18 dancers from different styles that included Sattriya and Mayurbhanj Chhau. The other styles performed were Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kathak and Mohiniattam. Females are endowed with natural charm, hence the lasya oriented Odissi is more suitable for female dancers but surprisingly two male Odissi dancers, Rasmi Ranjan Swain and Jit Ghosh danced with abundant elegance, creating a rare spectacle. By and large most of the dancers performed quite well. Bharatanatyam dancers who won the Nritya Nipuna title are Ritika Srikanth, Sayani Chakraborty, Subhashri Sasidharan, Radhika Rangparia and Saurabh Tripathi. Odissi dancers included Rasmi Ranjan Swain and Jit Ghosh, Kathak winners are Akanksha Athaley and Vedanti Bhagwat, the only Mohiniattam dancer is Priya Vinod, Mayurbhanj Chhau dancer Ankit Pahadia and Sattriya dancer Khirud Borah. After the recitation of the exquisite Sanskrit shloka from Natyasastra, Yoyam svabhavo lokasya, sukhadukha, samnvitah, songadhyabhin ayopeto natyam ityabhidhiyate (When human nature with its joys and sorrows is depicted by means of representation through gestures and the like -ie words, costumes, movements of the body and the emotional states - it is called drama, which includes dancing). The first dancer to commence the festival was Deepti Gupta from New Delhi performing Kathak. Her invocatory interpretative number in praise of the cosmic dancer Lord Shiva, Shankara atiprachand nachata kara damaru baje (Shankara dances powerfully with the music of damaru), was well presented. She concluded her precise and brief rhythmic performance with teen taal. The most spontaneous dancer of the festival Ritika Srikanth danced Tandava Ganapati with joie de vivre, following with a number in praise of Lord Kapileshwara who dances with a garland of skulls. It was really a pleasure to watch Ritika dancing with effortless ease, inclusive of karanas and akash charis. Besides the Behag Javali, the Kalinganartana Thillana incorporated the tussle of Krishna with the serpent; it was really adbhuta nartanam. Ritika is the disciple of Bharatanatyam mentor Minal Prabhu.  Ritika Srikanth  Sayani Chakraborty Avantika Mohanty's Odissi was partially pleasing as she needs to concentrate on the finer aspects, aesthetic and lyrical aspect of dance. Sayani Chakraborty commenced her Bharatanatyam performance with the beautiful composition of sage Patanjali, 'Shambho Natesan' describing the glory and powerful dance of Lord Shiva, followed with a number on Lord Krishna, "Murali naad sunayyo, aaj Hari adbhuta naach rachayyo" (With the mesmerising flute of Krishna, both man and nature rejoice and dance). Besides the striking and distinct movements, Sayani scored well in angika abhinaya pertaining to the depiction of nature, deer, peacock etc. Sayani is the disciple of acclaimed Bharatanatyam exponent Rama Vaidyanathan. The second day commenced with a brief speech by Guru Deepak Mazumdar, "Privileged are the dancers who are selected to perform for this prestigious festival as it is important to make a fine start in your career and this is the right platform." Sohini Pyne, disciple of Guru Madhumita Roy of Kolkata, commenced her Kathak performance with the beautiful extract from Tulsidas's Sriramacharitamanas, "Sriramachandra kripalu" describing Lord Rama and his deeds. Sohini also performed taal dhamaar with precise execution of rhythmic patterns. Rasmi Ranjan Swain is the disciple of Guru Bichitrananda Swain. His fluid, elegant movements in the Pallavi followed with Shiva Panchaka was a rare spectacle of grace and poise. Rasmi danced with complete involvement and devotion.  Rasmi Ranjan Swain  Priya Vinod  Radhika Rangparia  Akanksha Athaley Mohiniattam dancer Priya Vinod, a disciple of Kalamandalam C. Gopalakrishnan, commenced with the traditional Ganapatiye and concluded with an extract from Krishna Karnamrutham, establishing the inter relationship between the Lord and the human being. Radhika Rangparia is a fine Bharatanatyam dancer from Nalanda Nritya Kala. After the todaya mangalam, she performed the popular number "Indendu vachitivira" incorporating the pretentious anger of the khandita nayika and concluded with the Hindolam Thillana with ease and distinct movements. Disciple of Guru Rajendra Gangani, Akanksha Athaley is a proficient Kathak dancer, who impressed the spectators with her precise execution of teen taal. She also performed a Thumri which is a composition of Guru Munnalal Shukla describing the naughty pranks of Krishna. Her Tarana was well performed with professional ease. The third day started with a brief speech by Dr. Uma Rele, principal of Nalanda Nrityakala Mahavidyalaya. "Although we miss the atmosphere of live performances, we wish to encourage young talented dancers and hopefully we will have live performances next year." Another brilliant Odissi exponent was Guru Ratikant Mohapatra's disciple Jit Ghosh, whose exposition of Rageswari Pallavi was a visual treat of tribangis interspersed with elegant movements reaching the pinnacle of rhythmic excellence and stylized exposition. Jit also performed the Shankarabharanam ashtapadi "Harihara" with subtle gestures and expressions. Kathak dancer Vedanti Bhagwat, disciple of Rajendra Gangani and Rajashree Shirke, performed taal chautaal with 12 matras with accuracy and fine layakari.  Jit Ghosh  Vedanti Bhagwat  Saurabh Tripathi  Ankit Pahadia Another talented male dancer of Nalanda is Saurabh Tripathi, who revealed his considerable command over nritta, nritya and natya in the most elaborate number of the Bharatanatyam repertoire, the varnam "Paarkadalil" in praise of Lord Padmanabha. Here is a sincere dancer who can rise to great heights if he continues to dance with the same amount of passion and zeal. Mayurbhanj Chhau dancer Ankit Pahadia was particularly impressive for his angika abhinaya; the movements were limited but quite striking. He performed two numbers on Lord Shiva, one describing the Lord as warrior with sword and spear. Ankit is the disciple of Saibabu and Sashadhar Acharya. In spite of her sincere effort, Devika Rao's Kathak performance could not take off, due to the rattling sound of the fan and improper recording. The final day commenced with a fine Bharatanatyam performance by Telangana based Amruta Avasarala. Her exposition of "Adenamma" in praise of Lord Shiva, inclusive of the varied karanas and akash charis with distinct and stylised movements was a visual treat. She also performed 'Devi stuti' in praise of Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati incorporating varied aspects of the three deities. The Sattriya dance by Khirud Borah, disciple of Guru Dipjyoti Das, Dipankar Arandhara and Manuj Dutta was noteworthy for its striking but simple movements, performed with lot of enthusiasm and devotion. Khirud was impressive in Dashavatara, a composition by Shankaradeva from Kritan Ghosha.  Khirud Borah  Subashri Sasidharan Aditi Mitra's Odissi was quite pleasing but she needs to be more involved, particularly with numbers like Rageswari Pallavi that forms the hallmark of Odissi dancing. The last dancer of the festival Subashri Sasidharan, disciple of Dr Divyasena, impressed the audience with beautiful exposition of Ananda Natanam Prakasham portraying ananda nartanam of the Lord. Subashri performed the Balamuralikrishna Thillana in Behag with ease and expertise. On the whole it was a grand festival.  Vijay Shankar is a Kuchipudi and Kathakali exponent, teacher, bilingual journalist, arts critic and actor. |
