Dance fest to honour maestro
SHYAMHARI CHAKRA
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It was a delightful exposition of Odissi style.
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Late Debaprasad Dash was one of the four who popularised Odissi dance; the other three being late Pankaj Charan Das, late Kelucharan Mohapatra and Mayadhar Raut. Though Debaprasad died young - he passed away two decades ago - he had developed his distinct dance style in Odissi.
The two-day dance festival hosted in Bhubaneswar this week by Guru Ranbir’s Nrutyayana dance institution proved that Debaprasad’s distinct style is in safe hands.
The inaugural evening witnessed premiere of Ranbir’s latest choreographic composition Nirvana that was based on the life of Gautam Buddha - the transformation of young spiritual seeker Gautam to the meditative Buddha. Senior disciples of Ranbir including the talented Rahul Acharya, Leena Mohanty and Debasish Patnaik presented the dance drama for which Sukant Kumar Kundu has scored the music. While Ranbir has excelled in exploring new vocabulary and incorporating folk elements - the rhythmic movements in particular - into his composition, his telling of the story through the language of dance lacked a balanced pace. While some scenes (like the father deciding the son’s wedding or people carrying a corpse) were unduly stretched, Buddha being enlightened and denouncing the world was told in a hurry.
Sangeeta’s presentation of pure and expressional dance on the concluding evening was peerless.
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