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 Arpan 2022 by Sonarpur Nadam - Dr. NitaVidyarthi e-mail: nitavidyarthi@gmail.com Photos courtesy: Sandip Mallick October 17, 2022 Kathak dance institution Sonarpur Nadam, Kolkata, in association with Sarbabharatiya Sangeet-O-Sanskriti Parishad celebrated Teachers Day by paying homage to the Gurus through dance, by organizing their annual event 'Arpan' under the guidance of senior Kathak dancer Sandip Mallick, the Founder-Director of the organization, at the Satyajit Auditorium, ICCR, Kolkata.  Book launch Apart from the feast of dance, this year's celebration had the added attraction of the launch of the book titled 'Non Gharanedaar: Pandit Mohanrao Kallianpurkar, The Paviour of Kathak', published by Sterling on Pandit Mohanrao Kallianpurkar, one of the pioneers of Kathak dance and the first non-gharanedaar practitioner of Kathak to be recognized nationally. Written by three authors, Shama Bhate, Dr. Arshiya Sethi and Shilpa Bhide, erudite personalities in their own right in their respective fields, the Kolkata launch was graced by the thinking arts activist, dance scholar and curator of the dance sphere, Dr. Arshiya Sethi of Kri Foundation - one of the co-authors - in the presence of eminent guests and the dance fraternity, including Guru Sreelekha Mukherjee, the Guru of the organizer Sandip Mallick. After the formal launch, Dr. Sethi spoke extensively on the book to interest the audience. This special event was conducted by eminent dancer-scholar Vikram Iyengar. On insistence of his Guru, Sandip Mallick initiated the dance segment with "Naad Vandana", a magical offering or an appropriate "Arpan." The item was not supported by music of any kind except the variable hypnotic sounds of the ghungroos (ankle bells) expressing different nuanced emotions that left the audience awestruck. Once again, Sandip ruled the moment and the stage with his power of conviction and knowledge.  Priyadarshini Sanyal  Meghamala Das Arpan started in 2019 and since then, five dancers based on seniority and merit, are chosen every year for solo performances. The performances began with "Ganesh Vandana" by Preeti Dhar Chowdhury followed by thaat, amad, tukra, tihai and paran in ektaal, displaying her training in nritta. Kamalika Mukherjee commenced with Guru Vandana and then proved her training in shuddha nritta (pure dance) in teen taal. After the Vandana "Bhaje Brij," Priyadarshini Sanyal impressed with her recital in jhaap taal while Meghamala Das chose to perform items in teen taal after her Devi Vandana. The male dancer young Sourav Pal is a strong promising dancer and the only student performer. His potential was evident in his rendition of Shiva Vandana followed by items in dhamar taal.  Sourav Pal  Purnashree Ghosh & group An added attraction that regaled the audience was the participation of Sandip Mallick for an impromptu tukra, ending with a captivating "sawal -jawab." Live accompaniment with Subhashish Bhattacharjee on the harmonium, Aniruddha Mukherjee on the tabla and Sandip Neogi on the sitar were the strong musical support that made Ranjani's recital enjoyable. She concluded with a fine abhinaya set to the popular ghazal "Dil hi to hai na sang kisht dard se bharnaaye kyun" penned by Ghalib.  Sandip Mallick & Ranjani Bhattacharya  Jalsa Chandra & group A welcome entry to the Kathak domain was by the guest Bharatanatyam performance by Jalsa Chandra Performing Troupe, spearheaded by dancer Jalsa Chandra. Exhaustively trained in Bharatanatyam by Dr. Thankamani Kutty, Jalsa is also a Kathak dancer and at present honing her skills under Guru Rajendra Gangani. So even though it was expected that she would present a Kathak recital, her delightful Ardhanareeswar in the Bharatanatyam idiom was very welcome to the discerning audience. Jalsa's choreographic insight vividly visualized the stotram describing the composite androgynous form of Shiva and Shakti. The dance followed the music of M.S. Sukhi and both seamlessly brought out the underlying nuances of the stotram. They concluded with a riveting Thillana in ragam Amrithavarshini, talam adi showing fine team work. Apart from performing, the two group items were also choreographed by Jalsa.  Sonarpur Nadam ensemble Arpan 2022 concluded with a meaningful group presentation 'Sawandhwani' by Sonarpur Nadam. The interesting aspect of this presentation was that the sound of the ghungroos and foot-tapping of the dancers dominated the emotive aspect of the performance. The piece was a depiction of childhood, memories, playfulness and goodness. Apart from those already mentioned the other accompanying musicians were Subhashis Bhattacharjee on vocals and Ayon Banerjee on sitar.  Dr. Nita Vidyarthi is a veteran critic of performing arts and writes on dance, music and theatre in leading publications. |
