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 Odissi wows the land of Sattriya- Shyamhari Chakrae-mail: shyamhari@yahoo.com Photos: Nilakshi Neog September 12, 2025 Half a century ago, Odissi was introduced to Assam and it instantly attracted a number of dancers of this north eastern Indian state so much to travel all the way to far-off Odisha to master this dance form in its land of origin. Several established Sattriya dancers of today's Assam were Odissi's devotees then. However, with its very own Sattriya dance tradition gaining the coveted classical tag in the year 2000 and the state patronage pumped in on it, Odissi lost its attraction among the Odissi practitioners and aspirants. While all of them switched over to the greener pasture, one dancer decided to swim against the current. She is Anjana Moyee Saikia, the lone professional Odissi dancer and teacher of Assam today with four decades of commitment to the dance tradition. Founder-director of Darpan Dance Academy in Guwahati - that has groomed several young and impressive Odissi dancers - Anjana Moyee was initially trained in Odissi by Assam's celebrated dance exponent late Gorima Hazarika in Guwahati. Later on, she went to Odisha for advanced training under the legendary Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. She even landed at the fabled Nrityagram near Bengaluru to perform with its ensemble when Nrityagram founder late Protima Gauri Bedi discovered her talent in Delhi during the senior national scholarship test and picked her up as her disciple. In her mission of Odissi's promotion in the north east, Anjana Moyee launched her annual Odissi dance festival titled Nritya Nirjara (nirjara, a Sanskrit term, denotes eternal freshness) in Guwahati on August 29 at the aesthetically designed auditorium of Guwahati Medical College situated at a scenic lush green location. The debut festival, supported by the State Bank of India, featured 10 dancers that included the guru Anjana Moyee Saikia and her disciples Roopchanda Sarma, Bidisha Kalita, Nilam Das, Ankita Chetia, Shaivi Shiv, Rimpi Nath, Anudhriti Barthakur, Nityanjali Thangjam and Adrika Hazarika who performed seven captivating choreographies of which five were by the Odissi legend Kelucharan Mohapatra, one by Bhubaneswar-based fabulous choreographer and guru Bichitrananda Swain and the other by Anjana Moyee. What Lord Jagannath matters to Odisha, Lord Krishna matters to Assam; especially for the Odissi and Sattriya dance traditions respectively as their dominant deities. While Odissi concerts usually commence with an invocation to Lord Jagannath in Mangalacharan, in an appealing approach as an Assamese artiste, Anjana preferred to perform a Krishna Vandana - "Bhaje Brajeka Mandanam" (I bow down to the jewel of Vraja) - a verse in Sanskrit from Shri Krishnashtakam, an eight-verse hymn in praise of Lord Krishna.  Surya Stuti Anjana's meditative solo recital set the motion of the evening with ovations to Jagannath and Krishna followed by another for the Sun God - Surya Stuti - a group presentation along with her four senior disciples - Roopchanda Sarma, Bidisha Kalita, Ankita Chetia and Rimpi Nath. It also marked the debut of Anjana as an exclusive Odissi choreographer though she has several dance dramas to her credit. The yogic posture with which the recital commenced and concluded as a salutation to the supreme ruler of the Universe, were the hallmark of the choreography that duly delineated the power and grace of the Sun God. The choreographer has taken the best of the musicians of Odissi from Odisha to ensure the Odissi flavour of this production. After presentations on Jagannath, Krishna and Surya, it was the turn of Shiva. Batu, the next group performance, is an important segment of Odissi repertoire. Rarely performed these days even in the land of Odissi, Batu is a pure dance number offered in honour of Batuka Bhairava, one of the 64 aspects of Lord Shiva. Its complex rhythmic patterns put Batu as a challenge to the performers but joy for the spectators. A Kelucharan Mohapatra choreography, it was staged with perfection by Nilam Das, Rimpi Nath, Anudhriti Barthakur, Adrika Hazarika and Nityanjali Thangjam.  Anjana Moyee Saikia Durga was the next deity to appear on the stage through Anjana's solo recital. A highly popular choreography of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra for which Kolkata's Debasish Sarkar has scored the mesmerizing music, Durga Stutee was the magnum opus of the evening. It vividly delineated the unique attributes of the mother goddess who is equally incredible as the destroyer of the evil and saviour of the noble. With her decades of experience with theatre and dance, Anjana excelled in execution of the lasya and the tandav elements of Odissi with an effortless ease. As a relief to the prevailing mood inside the auditorium, the forceful dance depiction of Durga was followed by an enchanting presentation of Pallavi (pure dance number of the Odissi repertoire that gradually unfolds the lyrical, graceful and melodic movement and rhythmic patters like blossoming of a bud into a flower) set to raag Sankarabharana, another Kelucharan Mohapatra classic choreography with music composition by his constant and most favourite collaborator Pandit Bhubaneswar Mishra. The well-groomed young dancers of Darpan Dance Academy - Roopchanda Sarma, Bidisha Kalita, Rimpi Nath and Shaivi Shiv - staged it with perfect synchronisation.  After a brief break in celebrations of the gods and goddesses in the sequences of performances with the pure dance piece, the deities were back again on stage and this time with ten in numbers. Dashavatar (the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu), one of the oldest and often staged compositions Odissi dance worldwide, drawn from Odisha's 12th century saint-poet Jayadev's timeless Gita Govinda and choreographed by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra with music by legendary Balakrushna Dash, was staged neatly by Roopchanda Sarma, Bidisha Kalita, Rimpi Nath, Shaivi Shiv. In tune with the Odissi tradition, the concert concluded with Mokshya (liberation). This dance of ecstasy, set to the soulful raag Bhairavi and a mesmerizing collaborative creation by Kelucharan Mohapatra and Bhubaneswar Mishra duo, was performed by Anjana along with her six disciples as a fitting finale.  Guru Jatin Goswami and Anjana Moyee Saikia Presence of internationally acknowledged Assam's most celebrated Sattriya exponent Nrityacharyya Jatin Goswami as the chief guest of the festival added much grandeur to the evening. The Padma Bhushan and Akademi Ratna awardee fondly remembered his friend and Odissi legend Kelucharan Mohapatra on the occasion while acknowledging Anjana Moyee Saikia's success in the field of Odissi. The other guests included former Assam Government's Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Madhurima Baruah Sen, State's present Director of Cultural Affairs Rahul Ch. Das, Guwahati Medical College & Hospital (GMCH) principal Achyut Chandra Baishya and Professor Jutika Ojah, Head of the Department of Community Medicine of GMCH. In an apt gesture of gratitude for their support for Odissi in Assam, four senior artistes of Assam - Namrata Tiwari Talukdar, Aligunjan Kalita Mudiar, Paromita Nagdey and Krishna Chettry - were felicitated during the evening. As a bi-lingual compere of the concert, television anchor Gitashree Boro excelled in explaining all about Odissi dance and the presentations in Assamese and English to the audience with impressive clarity. For Anjana Moyee Saikia and her Darpan Dance Academy, Nritya Nirjara annual Odissi dance festival was a distinct debut with high hopes of Odissi's revival in the land of Sattriya.  A former journalist with The Indian Express and The Hindu, Shyamhari Chakra is a Delhi-based freelancer who writes on dance. |
