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 4th Guru Surendra Nath Jena Odissi International Festival - Dr. Manju Chellani e-mail: manjuchellani@gmail.com November 24, 2024 Dance is an integral part of the prevailing culture, anywhere in the world, at any given time. In many countries, the socio-cultural context is inextricably linked with spiritual and religious elements. In India too, the entire gamut of this context finds an echo in all its dance forms. In fact, the more dance speaks about the actual lives of the ordinary people, more joyfully does it celebrate its small and big events and activities.  Guru Surendra Nath Jena displaying the darpana pose (Photo courtesy: SNA, New Delhi) Guru Surendra Nath Jena was a passionate believer of the above. In the 1960s, already an accomplished performer and teacher of Odissi dance, he started diverging from the established canon. In 1968, he developed a new style of Odissi dance which was considered radical at the time. His new dance style was informed by his conviction that all the activities of human life should be represented in the dance in the same way as is done in paintings, sculptures, literature etc. Since the rhythm of human life is composed of navarasa, dance should depict each rasa in equal measure. Thus, in his dance style, there was an equal emphasis on the female and male elements, alongside with the integration and incorporation of Vaishnavite, Shaivite, Shakti and Tantric traditions. Furthermore, he emphasized on bhaav sanchar instead of shabd sanchar since he believed that the former was more suitable to experience the Divine who is located in the soul of each living being. As such, it can be discovered more readily in the sahaj lokdharmi sentiments. Guru Jena was also inspired by the sculptures etched in the sites of the Konark Sun temple and other temples of Odisha. He linked them to the history, sociology and religion of Odisha which resulted in his unique and outstanding compositions such as "Konark Kanti", "Shilp Chandrika" and "Chhaya Jhatak", to name just a few. These were tributes to all the dimensions of the lives of people leading both remarkable and unremarkable lives. Nrityashilp Foundation is based in Delhi NCR and is dedicated to both teaching and promoting the Guru Surendra Nath Jena style of Odissi dance. This was initiated after his demise in 2007. It is headed by the renowned Odissi dancer, Pratibha Jena Singh, the eldest daughter of the late Guru Surendra Nath Jena. The Nrityashilp Foundation organized the 4th International Festival of Guru Surendra Nath Jena style of Odissi dance on 5 and 6 October 2024, at Natyabhumi, Badogal Gram, Rishikesh, at Uttarakhand. This festival marked the 100th birth centenary of Guruji and celebrated his unique dance style. This was done in the verdant village of Uttarakhand, amongst the flourishing nature. On both the days, the daytime was devoted to workshops around the Guru Surendranath Jena style of Odissi dance. The evenings were devoted to performances of some of his most well-known compositions, by his disciples. On the first day, i.e. 5 October, the morning session was inaugurated by a havan, in which the blessings of Guruji were invoked. After that, the programme began; it was composed mainly of workshops. The first one was a yoga workshop by Nataliia Mogolivets, who is from Lviv, Ukraine. She is a disciple of Raudri Singh, the daughter-disciple of Guru Pratibha Jena Singh. Nataliia taught Nat Yoga, which is a specialized yoga style which has been tailored by her, for dancers to tone and strengthen their bodies. Nataliia conducted this workshop on both days of the festival. This was followed by a workshop by Guru Prafulla Kumar Mangaraj, the renowned mardal player. He regaled the participants with a comprehensive understanding of rhythms, and intricacies of Odissi taal and laya, giving them first-hand and valuable insights into this complex and multi-faceted system. This was complemented by the last workshop of the session, by Guru Pratibha Jena Singh. She enlightened the participants about the minutiae of the sculptural movements of the temples of Odisha; with special reference to the distinctive Odissi dance style created by Guru Surendra Nath Jena. This workshop was additionally available in the online mode and was attended by many Odissi dancers from all over India.  A glimpse of the Odissi dance workshop (Photo: Bhumikeshwar Singh) In the evening, the programme was composed mainly of dance performances. It commenced with the ritual of lighting of the lamp by Gram Pradhan, Shital Katri; the chief guest Dr. Vijaya Dhasmana, Chairperson of Himalayan institute; artistic director of Nrityashilp Foundation Guru Pratibha Jena Singh; and trustee of Nrityashilp Foundation, Bhumikeshwar Singh. The first performance was a presentation of the basic movements of Odissi dance by the children of Badogal and Bhogpur villages, and a Russian student Elena, who has autism. The primary objective of this learning and presentation was to spread the in-depth knowledge of Indian art, culture and dance in the villages of India. The rural children very rarely get the opportunity to learn any classical dance forms of India.  Badogal Village children of Rishikesh performing basics of Odissi (Photo: Pankaj Rawat)  Nataliia Mogolivets, Swati Chattopadhya, Roshni Unnikrishnan (Photo: Pankaj Rawat) After this followed the performances of the Odissi dancers who are all practitioners of the Guru Surendra Nath Jena style. First was the performance of the customary auspicious Dev Nritya Mangalacharan by Nataliia Mogolivets from Ukraine, and Swati Chattopadhya and Roshni Unnikrishnan, both from Delhi. The next dance performance was the composition Konark Kanti. This was Guru Surendra Nath Jena's first choreography, way back in 1968. It is based on Odisha's temple sculptures. It was performed by Renata, a disciple of Natalia Belchenko from Russia, and Nidhi Kindra, from Delhi. The third was an abhinaya, Saj Saj Saraja, based on the poetry of Odiya poet Banamali. It was performed by writer and Odissi dancer Jaya Mehta from Delhi. The following performance was Kamboj Pallavi which was presented by Natalia Belchenko and her four disciples from Russia, Eketerinburg. The piece after that was also a Pallavi, Brahma Maya. It was performed by Natalia Belchenko. This dance composition is based on the creation of universe and nature. Both the music and dance were composed by Guru Surendra Nath Jena. The last performance of the day was by Raudri Singh from Delhi who performed Hanuman Chalisa, which was written by Goswami Tulsidas in the Avadhi language. The rhythm and dance of the present performance were choreographed by Guru Pratibha Jena Singh. The first day of the festival was concluded by all participants chanting the Nritya Utsav shloka.  Natalia Belchenko with her disciples from Russia presenting Kamboj Pallavi (Photo: Pankaj Rawat)  Raudri Singh performing Hanuman Chalisa (Photo: Pankaj Rawat) The second day, i.e. 6 October, started with a yoga workshop conducted by Nataliia Mogolivets, resulting in imparting of wonderful knowledge to the participants. The next workshop was on Odissi music, conducted by Hari Narayan Das. He is an Odissi dance vocalist and his expertise helped the participants in deepening their understanding of music which plays a very essential role in dance, fostering a richer artistic expression. The last workshop was taken by Guru Pratibha Jena Singh and it was focused on the bhava and rasa theory, and their implementation in dance. In the evening, the performances were preceded by the ritual of lamp-lighting by Guruma Kumudini Jena, wife of late Guru Surendra Nath Jena; Natalia Belchenko, Nataliia Mogolivets, and by Nrityashilp Foundation trustees Swati Chattopadhya and Bhumikeshwar Singh. Since the entire programme was taking place during the auspicious festival of Navaratri, the first performance was the Mangalacharan based on Adi Shakti Amba, performed by Natalia Belchenko and her four disciples Renata Dikunova, Iullia Filiushkina, Nadzehda Kovaleskala, and Anastasiia Savchenko. The dance had been choreographed by Guru Surendra Nath Jena. This was followed by an abhinaya Shrita Kamala, an ashtapadi from Geeta Govind written by Jayadeva. It was performed by Saudamini Ayade from Delhi. After this was the performance of Archana Puri performed by Jaya Mehta and her disciple-daughter Ananya Mehta. This devotional dance is based on the ancient Devadasi bhava and portrays their dance at the famous pilgrimage of Jagannath Puri in Odisha.  All dancers performing Shiva Nat (Photo: Pankaj Rawat) Then came the Bhangi Abhinaya presented by Nataliia Mogolivets, Roshni Unnikrishnan and Swati Chattopadhya. It is based on the Odiya poetry of Champu Kishore Chandranand's Geet, which is inspired by the Devanagari alphabet: BHA. This was followed by the Odiya Dashavatar which was performed by Pratibha Jena Singh. The festival concluded with Shiva Nat. All the dancers of the festival took part in this. It is based on the nine rasas of life illustrated by the marriage of Lord Shiva and Parvati. The Shiva Nat dance was highly appreciated by the audience and they demanded for an encore. Hence, this spectacular dance was performed twice, during the same evening. The Nrityashilp Foundation was supported by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, for financial assistance. It was with their support that the 4th International Festival of Guru Surendra Nath Jena became such a successful programme in the foothills of Himalaya, at Natya Bhumi, Badogal village in Rishikesh, thus displaying the truth that a pristine environment produces the loftiest of sentiments. The village audience will remember it for a long time.  Dr. Manju Chellani is an independent writer based in New Delhi whose area of research and writing include environmental history; rights of animals; rights of nature; issues related to cultural heritage; relationship between society, literature and movies, among others. Being a disciple of Odissi dance, she writes on its various dimensions, focusing on the Guru Surendra Nath Jena style. She is also a member of a number of book-discussion forums and has co-initiated an online theme-discussion group. |
