Capital to keep step with choreography

BHUBANESWAR: For the first time a choreography-based festival will be held in State. The City will play host to the five-day choreography festival ‘Samrachana’ from March 1 at Rabindra Mandap here. It will provide a window of opportunity to classical music and dance connoisseurs to get a first-hand experience of choreography nuances in various Indian classical dance forms. The festival is being organised by Orissa Sangeet Natak Akademi in collaboration with Culture and Tourism Department and Guru Kelu Charan Mohapatra Odissi Research Centre here. Informing this to mediapersons here on Friday, Sangeet Natak Akademi president Sarat Pujari said it would be a first in the State. The emphasis would be on emerging aspects of choreography in classical dance forms. As many as 10 troupes are slated to present their compositions during the festival that will feature  Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi, Manipuri, Kuchipudi and contemporary dance styles. While Odissi will feature daily, evenings will have presentations on two styles. “In Odissi, there will be choreographic compositions like ‘Ravana’, ‘Buddha-Upakshyana’, ‘Gatha Odishi’, ‘Ranga Stuti’ and ‘Gati Vilas’,” said dancer Aruna Mohanty, the brain behind the festival. Among others, Tourism and Culture Secretary Ashok Tripathy, Guru Ramhari Dash and secretary of the Akademi Kailash Chandra Sahoo were present. Apart from the festival, two seminars will be held at the adjacent Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya auditorium on March 2 and 5 on related subjects.SLICE OF ODISHA IN K’TAKATo celebrate 75 years of formation of  Odisha, the SPICMACAY in collaboration with the Tourism and Culture Department is organising ‘Festival of Odisha’ in Karnataka.  While Gotipua dancers from Konark Natya Mandap recently performed in various educational institutions in the State as a part of the festival, Guru Ramhari Das along with Dhaneswar Swain, Bijaya Jena and Ajaya Kumar Dash left for Karnataka on Saturday to present a series of programmes on Odishi vocals. The festival will begin on February 27 and end on March 4. “The festival aims at showcasing the rich cultural heritage of Odisha. Recently, as many as 40 Gotipua performances were held in 12 cities of Karnataka by boys of Konark Natya Mandap,” said SPICMACAY’s Odisha chapter convener Dhanada Mishra.  Plans are afoot to organise the ‘Festival of Odisha’ in all the states, he said.