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Uneven tribute to a pioneering master

The annual Uday Shankar Festival was held at Rabindra Sadan recently. The festival, in fact, is the most important in…

Uneven tribute to a pioneering master

The annual Uday Shankar Festival was held at Rabindra Sadan recently. The festival, in fact, is the most important in the country in general and West Bengal in particular. If examined in its proper perspective, Udayshankar was the leading figure in the renaissance of Indian dance. His change of career from being an aspiring painter to that of a professional dancer is recorded in the history of dance. Anna Pavlova, the best ballet dancer of the world of that time, collaborated with Udayshankar and presented Hindu Wedding and Radha and Krishna in 1923. At the behest of Pavlova, he came back to his native country to learn and explore Indian dance forms. Udayshankar’s talent and destiny made him choreograph a fusion style of dance that incorporated European theatre techniques. In short he was the pioneer of modern dance in India.

Considering his greatness, the festival could be staged with a little more professionalism. Giving performance space to as many six groups and solo dancers in one evening did not do them justice and was taxing for the audience as well. Rasikas could hardly settle down to an aesthetic enjoyment of a piece because of its short duration. Also the skill of the performers chosen was not often of a high standard and a strict weeding out of those with little or no skill was the need of the day. The platform could perhaps be given to proven dance forms, categorised under headings such as classical, neo-classical, modern, contemporary, creative, et al and attracting an international crowd should have been its agenda. It could perhaps be more publicised to let people know about it in the first place.

Mamata Shankar ballet troupe’s dance offerings to the festival were the most fitting tribute to the larger than life personality of Udayshankar. All the four dance pieces were meaningful and creative. Rain Drops, Sunbeam and Thunder personified the elements as they played hide-and-seek in a most interesting manner. On the other hand, Dreams for ever was a daughter’s homage to her father and there was pathos in the piece. The daughter frequently dreams about the imaginative choreographic works of her father and in the piece, she effectively recapitulated parts of her dream with the help of the music composition of the legendary Ananda Shankar, her brother.

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The concept of Chetana spoke about both sides of good and evil that are inherent in the nature of man. The message is why not give a chance to the noble qualities that we are blessed with and make the world a better place. The piece Nirmala, choreographed by Mamata Shankar’s senior disciple Amrita Bhattacharya, was about the oldest profession of women. It asked why they were pushed into a profession that did not give them any dignity. The last two pieces followed the ideals of Udayshankar who said that one should not remain satisfied by producing the choreographic works of their mentors alone. Also, one’s works should reflect contemporary subjects.

Coming to the performances, Kathak groups and solo artists showcased seven performances in total. It was impossible for a lay person to know, which of them represented the best. Kathaka Ashimbandhu Bhattacharya’s presentation of Niravanastakam by Adi Shankaracharya introduced to the audience the concept and philosophy of Shiva. Shivoham Shivoham is the oldest chant wherein, the lord revealed his true nature. This ancient chant was topped up with Kathak Mel-Bandhan that combined the traditional techniques of the Lucknow and Jaipur gharanas. A Kathaka to the core, his aesthetic presentation of the poem, Teri khusbu se bhara khat mai jalau kaise was blissful.

Saato Ki Sangam by Kathaka Sandeep Mallick was unique. In it he used the seven musical notes to reflect the seven colours of the rainbow on seven beats of the rhythmic cycle in a pristine and polished Kathak style. It preceded the poem Aami by Rabindranath Tagore. Then there was Naad vandana, displaying rhythm with the sound of ankle bells. Taal teowra was used to depict tandava and taal rupak was chosen for lasya. He concluded with Tagore’s Bahe nirantaro ananto aanando Dhara.

Paromita Moitra’s Moods of Drums was entertaining while Bharatanatyam exponent Pankaj Sinha Roy performed excellently. On the other hand, Krittika, the Rina Jana Ensemble’s presentation of Dasavatar or the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu and the abhinaya piece Ki sova go kunje, a traditional Oriya song rendered in Gulu Kelucharan style of Odissi by Kaushik, Subhomita, Sanghamitra and Swagata were artistic. Jana herself was the choreographer of both pieces.

Odissi dancer Sreyashi Dey’s solo on Shiva-Shakti was diligently rendered in the style of her guru Gangadhar Pradhan, parts of which were choreographed by Guru Bichitranand Swain. A versatile dancer she could perform both the tandava and the lasya style stylistically. Satabdi Mallik is another upcoming star in the Odissi firmament who has imbibed the Debaprasad style of Odissi from Guru Durgacaharan Ranbir. She chose to perform Dasam Mahavidya with her group. It was a power packed rendition, which impressed the audience.

Pallavi Krishnan, a daughter of Bengal and daughter-in-law of Kerala, has established herself as a leading Mohiniattam dancer. A product of Kerala Kalamandalam she was excellent in the rendition of Mahalakshmi Astakam. She extolled the qualities of Adi Shakti Parama Brahma Swarupini with the greatest of reverence in the graceful style of the form. Her piece Pingola was excellently choreographed.

Prabal Gupta presented Kalkeya Vadham in which Urvashi was saved by Arjuna from Vajrabahu and Vajraketu. Urvashi fell in love with the mighty warrior and she surrendered herself to him, only to be repudiated. Urvasi, whose charm never failed to allure any man, could not believe that her advances went unrequited. Filled with rage, Urvasi curses Arjuna who is fated to be a eunuch for a year, which as the readers of the great epic Mahabharata know, was a boon when the Pandavas spent a year in disguise in the kingdom of Virat. The playwright Kottyath Tampuran’s similes and metaphors to describe the greatness of Arjuna lent itself to a telling translation in the expressive language of Kathakali. A serious dancer, Gupta specialises in both Stree Vesham and Purush Vesham. The padam of Urvashi was taken from Nivatakavacha Kalkeya Vadham. It was a 16 matras paddiniya chitta padam, which was choreographed by the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardee Guru Sri Sadanam Balakrishnan.

Kalamandalam Goutam presented his self-choreographed Chitrangada with the scholars of West Bengal State Music Academy in Kathakali style. Tagore’s dance drama Chitrangada was visualised most innovatively. Kurupa and Surupa were imaginatively essayed by the same person. Manly Chitrangada assumed female grace with the help of Madana to allure Arjuna. Feelings of love flowed into the young maiden, who admired her new-found glory in front of a five feet mirror placed on the stage. This was creative indeed as was the symbolic flower basket lowered from the top to represent Cupid, the god of love. In aharya abhinaya, Arjuna was in white as his character portrayed sattvik abhinaya. Ileana Basu and Diptangshu Pal were convincing in the role of Chitrangada and Arjuna.

Dhruvajyoti Tumi Jishu was a creative work directed by Alokananda Roy with the inmates of West Bengal’s correctional home. It was the story of Jesus from birth to crucifixion. The songs were chosen from the works of Tagore and some of them were Klanti aamay Khama Karo prabhu, Aek din jara merechilo jare, Chalo jai aaji subho dine pitaro bhabone , Bipade more rakhkha karo and Andho jone deho alo. The crucifixion scene was poignantly portrayed after showing the Stations of the Cross, which left a lump in one’s throat. Life must be unconditionally celebrated by one and all — that message was brought home in the last presentation of the festival.

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