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 Nrutya Naibedya Odissi Utsav - A face in the crowd- Shyamhari Chakrae-mail: shyamhari@yahoo.com Photos: Manas Babu November 10, 2025 Known as the epicentre of Odissi, Odisha's capital city of Bhubaneswar boasts of hosting the largest number of Odissi dance events. Hardly a week passes by without witnessing an Odissi dance festival. And often one comes across Odissi events happening simultaneously at multiple venues posing problems for the connoisseurs to choose. This problem-of-plenty has also resulted in a sharp decline in audience at the auditorium. Against such a depressing backdrop, the nine-year-old annual Nrutya Naibedya Odissi Utsav mounted in Bhubaneswar by young and acclaimed Odissi dancer-choreographer and trainer Pravat Kumar Swain has emerged as a face in the crowd and a must-attend event for all the Odissi lovers. Recipient of the prestigious Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Prativa Puraskar of Sangeet Natak Akademi, Pravat has also excelled as a festival curator. Despite being a fabulous male dancer, he has never danced in his own dance festival over the past nine years but has presented a number of talented soloists from across India through his Odissi Utsav. The long list includes four Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Prativa Puraskar winners - Madhusmita Mohanty, Rahul Acharya, Rajashri Praharaj and Vinod Kevin Bachan. "As a dancer, I have experienced the pain and frustration of not getting due scope for solo dancing. Therefore, the focus of my festival is on highlighting the young and emerging solo dancers though I have included duets and groups occasionally", explained Pravat who ensures that each of the performers get paid in an era of pay-and-perform festivals. The recently staged two-day Nrutya Naibedya Odissi Utsav at Bhanja Kalamandap in Bhubaneswar presented five soloists, two duets and one group.  Madhusmita Mohanty As expected, Madhusmita Mohanty, the senior-most dancer in the festival this year lived up to her reputation as a distinguished soloist of amazing grace, maturity and intensity and emerged as the star performer of the event. Groomed by three veteran gurus at the famed Odisha Dance Academy in Bhubanreswar - Gangadhar Pradhan, Bichitrananda Swain and Aruna Mohanty - her talent has been duly acknowledged with some major recognitions like the Mahari Award and Ustad Bismillah Khan Award. Madhusmita performed Bhumisuta (Daughter of Mother Earth) that revolved round the agony and disillusionment of Sita over her husband Ram's decision to prove her purity and her appeal to her mother earth to take the daughter back into her bosom. A compelling statement on women's dignity, this episode from the Ramayana, has been brilliantly choreographed by eminent Odissi exponent Aruna Mohanty with touching script by poet Kedar Mishra and music composition and emotive vocal rendition by Rupak Kumar Parida. The narrative - a soliloquy of Sita told as a flashback delineating sequences from her childhood, marriage to Ram, abduction by Ravana, return to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile to encounter absurd questions over her chastity - was convincingly conveyed by Madhusmita's masterly expressions. The same pair of eyes of the dancer radiated innocence of the child, romance of the bride, helplessness in abduction, the fiery face of the demon and the look of agony and disillusion of Sita - all with effortless ease and clear transitions of the characters. The dancer's internalization of the character of Sita and intensity of its expressions was exceptional.  Vinod Kevin Bachan Coincidentally, the festival also witnessed another presentation of Bhoomi Suta -The Daughter of the Earth by Vinod Kevin Bachan from Delhi who is also a recipient of Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Prativa Puraskar. Based on lyrics by Naba Kishore Mishra and script by Suryakanthi Tripathi, the production has been choreographed by Vinod's guru Ranjana Gauhar who needs no introduction while music has been composed by Saroj Mohanty. In Ranjana Gauhar's concept, choreography and interpretation, Mother Earth is not only the mother of Sita but also the mother of all beings who is all pervading and eternal witness to life's journey. Wise, compassionate and non-interfering, she becomes the central narrator, weaving Sita's epic journey in and out of the Ramayana, transcending time to connect the past, present, and future. The Ramayana's relevance spans across all eras making it a source of inspiration across generations. Bhoomi Suta explores a fresh perspective on this timeless epic. While the story and characters of Ramayana have been household names, the plight of the women within it have often gone unnoticed. The production sheds light on these overlooked facets. Vinod Kevin Bachan apart, the festival featured two more male Odissi soloists -Aniket Pallab Nayak and Bikram Samal - earning appreciation of the audience for the festival host, who is also a male dancer, for promoting male dancers. Aniket presented Aasabari pallabi, a pure dance number, followed by abhinaya - Lalita Lavangalata - an ashtapadi from Jayadev's Geet Govind - both choreographed by Pravat Kumar Swain. Set to raag Aasabari, music has been scored by versatile vocalist Sukant Kumar Kundu with rhythm composition by mardal maestro Dhaneswar Swain. In his effort to expand Odissi vocabulary, the promising young choreographer has attempted to explore and apply some of the karanas - the 108 numbers of fundamental dance units as described in the Natyashastra. While Aniket was eloquent in execution of the pure dance number, the talented young dancer was louder in his movements and expressions in abhinaya that required restrain.  Bikram Samal Bikram Samal, the other male soloist, stormed the stage with his power-packed presentation of Ekalavya from the Mahabharata. Trained under Pravat Kumar Swain, he performed his guru and mentor's choreography. The touching tale of the innocent tribal boy who longed to learn warfare under Guru Dronacharya and was denied as he did not belong to the royal class but mastered the art of archery on his own while worshipping an idol of Dronacharya as his guru and ironically asked by the same guru to cut down his thumb as his guru dakshina was enacted with elan. The emotional turmoil that the boy encounters between the birth and the death of his dream to be a disciple of Dronacharya and the suffering inflicted on him by the guru's cheating of the devoted disciple that culminated in the tragic end of his self-made and hard-earned career as an incredible archer-warrior came alive as the dancer convincingly came under the skin of the character. Late Odissi guru Naba Kishore Mishra's script, rhythm composition by mardal maestro Dhaneswar Swain and soul stirring music scored by Sukant Kumar Kundu elevated the dramatisation of the production to the superlative level. Priyanka Jena, disciple of noted Odissi dancer Meera Das of Cuttack city, impressed with her neat and involved performance of the pure dance number Kirwani pallabi followed by recital of abhinaya set to an ashtapadi from Jayadev's Geet Govind. Both the numbers have been brilliantly choreographed by her guru Meera Das. The young female soloist excelled in her exploration of the stage space that several dancers fail to do because of their regular performances as group dancers and little scope of solo dancing. In Taba Birahe Banamali - the 10th ashtapadi that conveys Krishna's emotional state of mind to Radha through the sakhi - Priyanka's expressional dance executed the desired level of intensity. Both the duet dance presentations by the promising young dancers were pulsating. Disciples of Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee guru Niranjan Rout, founder and director of Bhubaneswar-based Nupur Institute of Odissi; Akankhya Dash and Bibhu Prasad Behera presented Panchabhoota (the five elements: earth, water, fire, air and sky) choreographed by their guru. Impressive choreography and energetic dancing with synchronization apart, the mesmerizing music composed with a choral flavour by late Sumanta Mohanty, who was murdered young at the peak of his career, elevated the appeal of the presentation. Similarly, Chinmaya Kumar Das and Shambhavi Mohapatra from Cuttack - disciples of Jyotsna Rani Sahoo, founder-director of Soor Mandir Odissi Institute - staged her guru's choreography Sangeetam Srushtimaya that drew references from mythology. Brahma, the god of creations, noticed the sky and ocean merging chaotically. To halt this, he chanted the sacred sound "Aum," stabilizing the sky. However, the ocean remained restless churning with a loud and discordant noise. From this disturbance, emerged the seven musical notes. Yet, the melody remained inharmonious. Thus, Brahma appealed to Vishnu who, in turn, sought Shiva's interventions who set it right. Music composition by sitar exponent Swapneswar Chakraborty has enhanced the appeal of the presentation.  Nrutya Naibedya Odissi Ensemble A fitting finale to the two-day festival (Sept 29 & 30) was host Nrutya Naibedya Odissi Ensemble's premiere of its group production Trahi Durga. Though the dancers were quite young, their impressive synchronisation among the group members coupled with their aesthetically crafted costume magnified the appeal. Choreographer and dance director Pravat Kumar Swain has his usual preferred team with mardal guru Dhaneswar Swain as the rhythm composer and veteran vocalist Sukant Kumar Kundu as music composer.  Ramesh Chandra Das with the award The 9th Nrutya Naibedya Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred on Odissi's best known violin exponent Ramesh Chandra Das during the closing ceremony of the festival. Past recipients of the award include several exponents from the field of Odissi dance and music like Kumkum Mohanty, Aruna Mohanty, Ranjana Gauhar, Ratikant Mohapatra, Sukant Kumar Kundu, Bijay Kumar Barik and Niranjan Rout.  A former journalist with The Indian Express and The Hindu, Shyamhari Chakra is a Delhi-based freelancer who writes on dance. |
