Shades of Odissi

An email from a friend alerted me about the three day International Odissi Dance Festival (IODF), at Kamani Auditorium. I frowned at the possibility of hearing the same discussions, watching the same dancers ( as often festivals go for the same bulk of popular nee powerful stalwarts) and laughing at same last minute goof ups.
But mercifully, Bansi Bilas ( and its two power ladies- Leesa Mohanty and Leeta Mohanty) , the parent organisation proved that there was more to the festival than the obvious. One would personally remember the festival for its strong attempt at bringing face to face, different strands of Odissi- which in recent years have hit headlines for internal tensions and controversies. Though, Guru Deba Prasad Das's school of thought was behind the festival, it proved to be as much a personal space for the Gurus belonging to Kelucharan Mohapatra's style.
The various other shades- the element of theatre, the influence of the Gotipuas and the Maharis on present day works, the impressions of other classical dances and the chic- contemporary facelift- were all there.
The largest ensemble of second generation Odissi Gurus in the capital, in recent years, IODF had a line up of performances, lecture demonstrations and screenings. The festival scored high on some memorable lecture-demonstrations. Among them, Sonal Man Singh's personal narrative on the exploration of new areas of content and choreography, within the traditional gambit of Odissi, ( with the help and guidance of late Jeevan Pani) made for a very riveting session. The most interesting part of Sonal's talk was her experiences with Buddhist Charyagitis and Oriya narrative tradition of Pala, where (as I understood) a highly stylized , visually and literally rich poem is used to explore different ideas and images. Both, reflected upon the image of the woman, as a Goddess and a bewitcher- who demands complete devotion and surrender from men- the devotees and the lovers. This shade of male-female relationship ( which is generally in opposition to the popular depiction of a rover Lord and a power-less Nayika) also forms the substantive part of Sonal's contribution to Indian dance.
Sonal was at her best as she went on to explore a Pala, Nayana Sunaina Re, delineating on the power and magic of a woman's eyes-that dwarf the alacrity and the sharpness of a deer on one side and a 100 horses on the other. One could easily understand why the dancer has been bestowed with such expressive eyes!
Equally commendable for their dance choreographies, were the demonstrations of Madhvi Mudgal and Ramli Ibrahim. Madhvi's group works- Kalyan and Topoi in particular, which had her locating the angular spaces in former and elements of theatre in the latter. Madhup Mudgal's music, was understandably one of the high points. Topoi, which forms part of the Oriya myth, is a story of a girl by the same name who is considered to be the avatar of Goddess Lakshmi.
Though, Madhvi stressed that she would prefer presenting her works than speaking, one wished, the dancer had shared her thoughts and ideas on what goes into her productions. What are the natural points of departure for her, her favourite motifs, areas of inspiration and the problematics involved in executing a production. There was much to be discovered there and sadly, it remained so even after the commanding productions. Ramli on the other hand, took a balanced approach and while appreciating his training in Bharatanatyam, revealed that for him, the dance form played to the gallery. Odissi for him, is like Lord Jaganath. Ramli's works are a confluence of contemporary, folk and classical dance traditions interspersed with rich theatre tradition.
Apart from the these demonstrations, Guru Dugra Charan Ranbir's demonstration, while scoring high on his performance front, failed to take off when it came to conversing about his work. It would have been more appropriate to allow Guru Ranbir to speak in Oriya so that his views could be known. Instead, all one heard was a peripheral discourse of his journey by one of his senior students, which could never justify what the master himself could have shared.
Guru Gangadhar Pradhan's lecture demonstration was a mix of innocence and sincerity and his performance was a perfect example of how a pot bellied grey haired man can transform into a entrancing nayak or a nayika, just by the power of his dance. Gangadhar Pradhan's take on the need for proper exercise and sadhana and his excited state, was visually entertaining but one would have wished, if he had shared those aspects of his journey from being a gotipua dancer ( in common parlance, pre-pubescent boys performing, dressed as girls) to a professional made dancer. How did he negotiate between the borrowed notion of femininity within himself as a pre-teenager and justified his masculinity in order to be taken as a serious male performer in his adult life? Sadly, there was no word on this.
And there was no word from the veterans on whether or not the lecture-demonstration by the Nrityagram's stars Surupa and Bijoyni, depicting their creative forays in chaukas and tribhangis were influenced by the Bharatanatyam grammar. The duo who stressed on the need to cultivate body, said that they cannot take the borrowed truth of tradition and make it their own. Their work, which is, at present the most enthralling visual experience needs a detailed understanding on parts of dancers, critics and scholars to see whether like with Padma Subrahmanyam's journey from Bharatanataym to Bharata Nrityam, their Odissi too needs a new baptism?
But the word power came back in full force in two seasoned presentations by Shanta Serbjeet Singh and Leela Venkatarman. Veteran culture writer and activist, Shanta's work as a the Chairperson of Asia Pacific Performing Arts Network, has become a precursor to her spell binding research in the realm of healing through performing arts. While probing the inherent link between the arts and the science, Shanta stated that, "All artistic and creative activity happens because of a rare and irregular behaviour pattern in the brain called synthesia. What this does is accidentally crosswire unrelated parts of the brain in ways never before seen." Perhaps this is why most artistes are not normal! Shanta further added that, "Behind the apparent good health, longevity and incredible stamina of most dancers, musicians and visual artists lies the fact that the very nature of the work they do, i.e. sing, dance, paint, sculpt, in short create a work of art, is an endless source of pumping of metaphorical iron, adrenalin, vitamins and nutrients into the body even as they help to rid it of disorders, imbalances and disease. "
Leading dance critic and commentator, Leela Venkataraman, while speaking about dance criticism, chose to spread her presentation on the issues of tradition, authenticity and identity of Odissi. In doing so, she delineated on the need to question the handed down sanctity of tradition and the need to have the freedom to imbibe that tradition within the contemporary time zone of the dancers. Leela expressed her concern over the new found jerkiness, tremendous ornamentation and over arching virtuosity, in Odissi and felt that these serious issues were being relegated to the background while non-issues like the "authenticity" of Odissi dance costume was being given undue importance.
The evening performances, a large chunk of which, this writer could not witness because of bout of cold, had some memorable presentations by Madhvi Mudgal and Kavita Dwivedi.