REVIEW / REPORT

Nandanik Classical Dance and Music Festival

- Debolina Ghosh
e-mail: debolina.2009@rediffmail.com
Photo credit: Gopinath Roy

November 10, 2026

As the azure autumnal sky brought news of Ma Durga's arrival, mother nature spread out her anchal to welcome her. And we, her children, tried to express our ecstasy through dance and music. Odissi exponent Guru Jayati Basu presented a classical dance festival on 11th of October at Shishir Mancha, Kolkata. Jayati Basu polished her skills under the tutelage of Guru Monalisa Ghosh and also trained under Guru Rina Jana for a brief period. Jayati Basu along with her disciples started the presentation with Mangalacharan, Shantakaram, dedicated to Lord Vishnu who is the saviour of the universe, resting on Seshnaag. Beautiful usage of mudras, graceful movement and eye expressions set the mood for the entire program.

Jayati Basu and ensemble

Disciples of Jayati Basu

Next, Prashanta Kumar Sahu, Jayati Basu and her disciples danced in praise of Goddess Durga. Her fierce and benevolent forms were depicted with expertise. The music composition was by Balakrishna Das. The original dance composition was by Adi Guru, late Pankaj Charan Das. Graceful as well as vigorous movements of the performance on the onset of Navaratri made a heavenly ambience.

Monalisa Ghosh

Jatayu Moksham, an epic story from Ramayana was presented by Monalisa Ghosh. Tulsidas's doha with Monalisa Ghosh's beautiful movements turned the stage into a serene, picturesque forest where Sri Ram, Sita and Laxman were living in the lap of nature. Trees, flowers and deer got life with her beautiful mudras and agile movements. Rasikas felt Sita's keen desire to get the golden deer through her outstanding abhinaya. Frolic movement of Mareech, disguised as a golden deer was marvellous. Boldness and divine grace of lord Rama and Laxman was aptly shown through her choreography. Her expertise was evident in the depiction of vigour and crudeness of Ravana. Finally, she performed the role of the mythical bird Jatayu. Energetic animal movement is a characteristic feature of Odissi dance. Jatayu's striving, dedication and death created a melancholic ambience through performance of Monalisa Ghosh.

Rina Jana

Rina Jana gracefully combined Bilahari Pallavi with an Odiya song Aja mu dekhili ghana shyama ku go. Bilahari Pallavi was composed by Odissi maestro Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. And the song was composed by the eminent poet Kavi Banamali Das. The enchanting lyrics of the song with its melodious tune was about the sakhi's experience who was mesmerised by the grace of the dark-complexioned lord Krishna. Rina Jana embodied the sakhi with her elegance and lyrical movement and finally she surrendered to Krishna's divine beauty.

Ashok Mohanta and Lambodar Mohanta

Mayurbhaj Chhau stole the show. The semiclassical martial art is performed without mask. They are marked with intense eye expression and facial movement. Two young artistes from Odisha, Ashok Mohanta and Lambodar Mohanta, enacted the story from Mahabharata, showing Eklavya's talent through vigorous movements, martial energy and rhythmic precision. Their energy level was noteworthy. The show concluded with this performance.

Guru Jayati Basu felicitated Rina Jana, Monalisa Ghosh, sarod maestro Pandit Debjyoti Bose, Retd. IAS officer Dr. Subrata Gupta and IAS officer Dr. Soumitra Mohan. The most striking part of this event is that more than 100 participants, practising different classical dance forms participated in the third edition of this program, Hridaypur Nandanik Classical Dance and Music Festival 2026, curated by Guru Jayati Basu. Performance of Naira Hayat and Saharshika Dutta in Bharatnatyam, Madhura Deb and Evanshi Ghosh in Odissi was praiseworthy. Nritya Kala Bihar, Nrityayan, Pushpita Dance Academy, Nrirtyalok, Brahmasmi, Chandas Dance Academy, Nrityanjali Kala Kendra are institutes of Indian classical dance from different districts of West Bengal who took part in this program. This signifies that Indian classical dance is reaching its splendour from urban to suburban and then to rural areas.

Debolina Ghosh is an MPhil scholar, Department of Sociology, University of Burdwan, West Bengal.