The Debadhara fest was kaleidoscopic in nature with varied dance forms spanning across two days in memoriam of guru Deba Prasad Das. The final day had solo by Aruna Mohanty, a duet Kuchipudi dance by guru-dancer Vyjayanthi Kashi and her daughter Prateeksha and group dance-drama by Gajendra Panda and pupils.
Aruna presented ‘Bhoomi Suta’, Ramayana in a nutshell with emphasis on Sita. It was the life journey of Sita from marrying Lord Rama in swayamvar to abandonment in forest, to abduction to release through war on Lanka, victorious and back to Ayodhya only to face humiliation over her chastity issue which becomes an un-erasable hurt that finally ends in her act of courting total dissolution of her body in earth.
Aruna’s abhinaya was very convincing in scenes like Sita sighting the mareechh (deer in disguise), the excellent gati bheda through mnemonics while miming Ravana’s ride in his carriage and so on. Then came a more philosophical piece which dealt with the soul’s sojourn on earth in the form of life. The English voice-overs on life’s transiency and such other concepts served to enhance the solo. The soul undergoing experiences in three stages of life — childhood, youth and old age willingly while trying to shun the next stage of death was shown brilliantly. Her chowka postures and footwork to the three cycles of speed were impressive. The piece ended with Adi Shankara’s sloka “Bhaja Govindam...” to which Aruna’s dance was more in the style of Abhang bhajan which was not very suitable to this highly philosophical verses; the first two words (Bhaja Govindam) are not to be taken literally in bhajan mode!
Kuchipudi performance
Mother and daughter duo, Vyjayanthi and Prateeksha Kashi gave us an artistic interpretation to five of the nine rasas (navarasa) in the typical Kuchipudi style where theatrics, pravesha daruvu (self-introductory dance) are mandatory along with footwork and mime. Prateeksha emerged a fine dancer especially in the Jayatu moksh episode. While the episode from Mahabharat where Bheem draws the blood of the rakshas brought home ‘Bheebatsa’ the ensuing incident of smearing Draupadi’s hair with the blood followed by a ‘Shanta’ (rasa) mudra was incongruous. Did the dancer mean Draupadi’s vengeance finally appeased and hence she was at peace? If so, shanth is a relative term; it cannot fit into the rasa frame. So also was Vyjayanthi taking the role of Radha with Prateeksha as Krishna to emulate ‘Shringara’, a role reversal would have looked more convincing in this aspect.
Vyjayanthi Kashi
Gajendra Panda and his ensemble presented an Oriya dance drama which is all about Sakshi Gopal (Lord Krishna). The dance per se by the group lacked coordination to taal and sync. The spacing out of each of the dancers was mired which only shows lack of expertise. The characters on stage were totally unsuited to the roles they played. By and large a flimsy production, which was more on the lines of a school cultural programme. The festival was staged at the India Habitat Centre
