New Delhi-based Odissi dancer Jyoti Shrivastava is set to present the 27th Guru Pranam Utsav in memory of her guru, late Shrinath Raut, this weekend. Guru Shrinath Raut was one of the first artists to introduce Odissi to the young learners and audiences of the national Capital. Jyoti’s determination to ensure the foundation he laid did not fade into a nostalgia-laden album has born fruit, not just in the goodwill garnered by the annual festival, but also in her own work as a teacher of Odissi. Out of the 60 students currently on the rolls of her institute, the Vaishali Kala Kendra, she can lay claim to have moulded a number of competent dancers, which is no mean feat.
Perhaps what is of more significance for the art is that the past 27 years have seen the classical dance scene in general, and Odissi in particular, change in many ways. Some of these are reflected in the programming of the festival. For example, one of the concerts on the second day is Odissi vocal by Guru Bijay Kumar Jena, a singer and composer from Odisha. With a number of artists and scholars over the past decades having painstakingly explained that Odissi music is a genre by itself, it is no longer a rarity to hear of such concerts.
However, Jyoti points out, not many Odissi dancers are working with this musical tradition. “Now very few dancers are working with the original music of Odissi,” she says. “Many are using Hindustani, sometimes they use music influenced by Rabindra Sangeet. Very few are following pure Odissi music. I have seen Ananda Shankar’s music being used too. Maybe it’s because it’s very expensive to get Odissi musicians and composers. I work only with Odissi composers, and it’s very difficult. One thing is they are not committed to the time. My production of “Shakuntala” has been hanging for two-and-a-half years. They should consider that dancers have a short career span. If one composition is going to take two-and-a-half years! They say, we will do it tomorrow, day after, but if you go to Odisha and stay in a hotel, you can’t afford to keep putting it off. So maybe dancers decide to work with people more easily available. All this is spoiling the purity of Odissi music.”
This year, the festival highlights, apart from a performance by Aruna Mohanty, will include Rabindra Attam by disciples of Guru Valmiki Banerjee, one of the veteran gurus of the Capital, who will also be honoured with the Shrinath Raut Samman.
“Shrinathji was very close friends with him and appreciated this style of dancing (Rabindr Attam, or the Santiniketan style),” says Jyoti. She adds that her guru used to take classes in Guru Valmiki’s institute and was inspired by this dance form. Guru Srinath’s Saveri raga pallavi, which will be performed by Jyoti’s disciples at the festival, has shades of this inspiration, says Jyoti. The pallavi in Odissi is a visual interpretation of a musical efflorescence. However, Guru Srinath’s Saveri pallavi is based on a story, says Jyoti, of a tribal girl (sabari), walking with a lilting gait, bedecked with flowers and fragrant with sandal paste. Not only is her walk reminiscent of a snake climbing up a hill, but the sandal fragrance too proverbially attracts snakes, and the composition reminds us of the snake charmer’s tones.
Guru Pranam Utsav-2015 takes place on April 11 and 12 at Azad Bhawan, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi, and on April 25 at Indira Gandhi Auditorium, Noida sector 6.
April 11 | April 12 | April 25 |
Aruna Mohanty Jyoti Shrivastava and her disciples Rahul, Isha, Varsha, Deepshikha, Ranjeeta Rabindraattam by disciples of Guru Valmiki Banerjee | Guru Bijay Kumar Jena (Odissi vocal) Sidharth Kishore (Hindustani vocal) Subroto Dey (sitar) | Odissi by young artists of Vaishali Kala Kendra |
