|     |
|
| |
 Samanvaya conveys a social message- Vijay Shankere-mail: vijaydance@gmail.com March 4, 2026 Nalanda Dance Research Centre presented the Nalanda Nrityotsava for four days from 9th to 12th January at their Kanaka Sabha in Juhu, Mumbai. The young dancers' festival also featured the latest Nalanda Nrityakala Mahavidyalaya dance drama production 'Samanvaya - Sarve Sukhinah Bhavantu', besides the distribution of Nalanda Bharata Muni Samman and Kanaka Nartana Puraskar to distinguished personalities. The Nalanda Nrityotsava is an exclusive platform, particularly for young talented classical dancers, hence dancers from India and overseas look forward to this annual event. The outstanding dancers are also honoured with the Nalanda Nritya Nipuna title. The recipients for this year are Vempati Lakshmi Kameshwari and Ayana Mukherjee in the Kuchipudi dance style, Disha Desai, Maitreyee Ingle, Tejashree Vaidya Rane and Gauri Jathe for Kathak, the sole Odissi dancer of the festival Dipjoy Sarkar, Bharatanatyam dancer Preshit Meher and Manipuri dancer Ratri Manik. The festival also featured the Bharatanatyam performance by Darshan Shankar from Bangalore, Madhumitha from Karnataka and Poojashree for Kathak from Karnataka. Darshan Shankar, Ayana Mukherjee and Dipjoy Sarkar emerged as powerful performers, creating a lasting impression, noteworthy for the clarity of movements and aesthetic quality of their performance.  On the third day, the latest dance drama of Nalanda, 'Samanvaya - Sarve Sukhinah Bhavantu' was performed, combining the elements of Bharatanatyam, Mohiniattam, Kathak and Odissi, and succeeded in delivering the message that animals should not be ill-treated or harmed and they have the right to live peacefully and happily along with human beings and nature. Re-imagined and choreographed by Dr Uma Rele, the story features the king who takes a fancy for killing innocent animals while hunting, until one day when he encounters a pregnant deer and he realises his crime and decides to protect and save all the animals. The entire cast of Nalanda dancers performed extremely well, pertaining to the typical gait and angika abhinaya portraying the animals. Vaidehi Rele Lal as the Golden deer, Trusha Panchal as Silver deer was amazing, Ankur Ballal as the crow was brilliant, Sanathan Chakraborty as the Sutradhar and parrot was pleasing, except for the strange expressions he projected, which was not necessary. Tamohar Biswas as the King and Mohanraj Acharya as Vivasvat, the King's friend, did their parts well. Preshit Meher was the male deer, partner of pregnant deer, enacted with poise by Shefali Wadekar. The complete deer clan included Swati Churadiya, Gauri Jathe, Richa Rajeevan, Vaishnavee Naiksatam, Srushti Ruia Chamaria, Roshni Kamble, Sakshi Apte and Kanak Darak. The king's attendant was Amit Munge. Wonderful and melodious music by Narayana Mani, dialogues by Deepak Sneh and photos by Suresh Muralidharan and team. The comperes for the evening were Dr Meenakshi Gangopadhyaya and Megha Ahire. The recipients for the prestigious Nalanda Bharata Muni Samman were Bharatanatyam Guru Chitra Visweswaran, Marathi theatre personality Prashant Damle, Marathi playback singer Ravindra Sathe. The Kanaka Nartana Puraskar recipients were veteran sitarist Alka Gujar, folk artist Dr Ganesh Chandanshive, folk dancers and choreographers Jigar and Suhrad Soni, Saraswati Veena musician and music composer Narayana Mani, folk singer Dr Shailesh Shrivastava, Kathak exponent Vijayashree Chaudhury, Bharatanatyam exponent Dr Malati Agneswaran and Sanskrit scholar Dr Veena Londhe. Director of Nalanda Dance Research Centre and principal of Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya, Dr Uma Rele says, "We are blessed and privileged to follow the legacy of our dear mentor Dr Kanak Rele, who always encouraged young talent, hence the Nalanda Nrityotsava started functioning and we are proud that we are the pioneers in providing a platform to young deserving talent, as there are hardly any platforms for them. They are the future of our country, in preserving and promoting India's rich cultural heritage. We get lot of applications and we try to accommodate as many as possible, every year".  Vijay Shankar is a Kuchipudi and Kathakali exponent, teacher, bilingual journalist, arts critic and actor. |
