In the age where classical dance performances have become formulaic, to see fresh movements on stage is a great relief to the sore eyes. Pratibimba, an Odissi event was organised at Seva Sadan which gave the Bangalore audience a much needed break from the monotony of standardised classical dance recitals. The event was a tribute to the Odissi maestro Guru Deba Prasad Das, whose school of Odissi actively acknowledges its roots to the Mahari and the Gotipua traditions of Orissa. Leena Mohanty, Sangita Dash and Debashish Pattanaik delivered Odissi performances that reflected this particular style of Odissi. The event opened with a Mangalacharan by the three dancers. Mangalacharan, an invocatory piece that offers prayers to the god, audience, Guru and the earth set the stage for the performance.
Following the Mangalacharan was an abhinaya piece performed by the guest performer Bipanshi Das, daughter of Guru Deba Prasad Das. The first most striking aspect of her presence was her costume. Decked in a significantly different costume compared to the conventional Odissi costume, one saw her wrapped in a colourful skirt, a top and a head gear which had three cone shaped protrusions. Her abhinaya was performed to Munhamunhi Kishora Chandramanka, a composition by Gopal Krushna Patnaik sung in Bageshree Raga. Apart from revealing some new footwork that are often not seen in narrative performances, Bipanshi Das’s performance offered a fresh visuals of the love between Krishna and Gopika.
Sangeeta Dash too gave an abhinaya recital on the composition “Na Ja Jamuna” where the Sakhi advices Radha to not go towards Jamuna where Krishna is expected to be waiting. In this recital, one comes across some typical ideas of sringara being represented as coyness and shyness.
Nestled right in the middle of the evening, Madhyamavati Pallavi, felt like the centre piece of the event. Choreographed by Leena Mohanty and performed by her along with Debashish Pattanaik, one felt the piece was aptly crafted for a duet on stage. Pallavi in Odissi is typically a musical, yet abstract sequence of movements that articulate the aesthetics of the form. Set to Megh Raag, the imagery in Leena Mohanty’s Madhyamavati Pallavi alluded to the season of monsoon. The co-ordinated movement of the duet from one end of the stage to the other in a slight diagonal, staggered position while facing each other was a moment that would linger in the audience’s memory much after the performance is over. Apart from its typical performative references to monsoon like dancing peacocks and brimming ponds the movements of the dancers evoked in the audience the mood of encountering the monsoon. This piece also stood apart for its layered music where the Odissi bols were laid on the swara of the pallavi. The choreography too reflected the layered music in its movements of slow torso and fast stepping thereby making the contours of Odissi more pronounced.
The second half of the performance included a solo by Leena Mohanty and by Debashish Pattanaik. Leena danced to “Bhramargeet”, a poetic composition that involves a conversation between a gopi and a honey bee, whose interaction with the gopi operates on a double register. Firstly, The bee is a messenger of Krishna, to whom the gopi asks whether Krishna, the one who has conquered great feats remembers anything of the time he has spent with her. Also narrating the story of Mahabali, this narrative depicts Krishna in godly as well as human contexts in the same breath. Apart from being a messenger, one realizes that the bee is like Krishna himself. Much like how he disappears, the bee too vanishes into thin air. Leena in her performance embodies the bee as well as the gopi with a striking clarity.
The last solo for the evening was by Debashish Pattnaik, who performed a “Shivashtaka”, a tribute to lord Shiva who is worshipped as the god of dance in many classical traditions. The dancer displayed great physical abilities but was unsuccessful in communicating the idea behind it. The evening was concluded with a group performance of “moksha” the final piece performed at Odissi recitals by Sangeeta Dash, Debashish Pattnaik and Leena Mohanty.
As an audience it was a refreshing experience to witness unfamiliar aspects of a familiar form of dance. But as it is with many things unfamiliar, without a framework to help the audience fathom the dance form in its context, there is a great risk for the work to be presented and perceived as exotic. While the introductions offered some context by mentioning the tradition from which a particular piece draws ( such as the Nautanki tradition, Gotipua tradition or the Mahari tradition), it remained largely vague. With a responsible and active curatorial engagement, these performances could have had a critical presence and a larger impact.
