(From top) An Odissi solo recital by Tejas from the USA, an Odissi duet performance by Sita and Tara from Italy and Switzerland and a kathak recital by Sohani Debnath and her troupe from Calcutta. Pictures by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, March 1: The tales of the Krishna-Radha love story remains the essence of many classical dance forms. The mythological anecdotes of Krishna leelas were enacted by the kathak artistes who regaled the audience at the third Laxman Garnaik Smruti Antarjatika Nrutya Sangeet Samaroha yesterday with their unique performing style.

Sohini Debnath and her Kathak troupe from Calcutta dominated the second evening of the festival held by the National Music Association. Led by Debnath, the troupe started with a viraha piece, which was a pure dance item based on rhythm. This was the followed by another recital based on Rabindranath Tagore’s song Shravana Gagan Bhor Bhata.

The artistes depicted the desperate longing of Radha, who leaves her house in the midst of a storm and heavy rain to meet Krishna along the banks of river Yamuna.

Later, the group performed a piece on Holi and described the fun between Krishna and Radha while they play with colours.

“We wanted to dedicate our performance to the people of Cuttack and the upcoming festival of colours. Hence, we decided to come up with this unique item which ended with a taal-based trivatt, which is usually converted into a song through the rhythm of the tabla,” said Debnath.

Apart from kathak, an Odissi duet performance by Sita and Tara, dancers from Italy and Switzerland, was another attraction of the evening. The duo began with Harihar Mangalacharan, which was an invocation to lord Vishnu and Shiv. The dance performance was based on the raga prahari and noted musician Ramhari Das composed the music. Later, another Odissi dancer from the USA, Tejas, joined the duo in the second piece, Basant Pallabi, which began with simple and slow movements. The tempo increased as the recital progressed.

The Astashambu performance by Tejas was appreciated by the audience. The artiste depicted eight different moods of Lord Shiv when a devotee is praying to the lord.

“It was a well performed item as the artiste tried to stick to the basics and was very graceful,” said Sudhir Swain, a member of audience. Earlier, a violin orchestra by members of the Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya was also appreciated on the occasion.