Bhubaneswar: The Annual Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award Festival, which is in its 24th edition this year, concluded here on Sunday.
The festival had performances by both established and budding artistes.
This year, there were two new performances by Srjan - "Kirvani Madhurima", a neo-classical innovation and an amalgamation of traditional Odissi with contemporary music based on raga Kirwani and "Maati", a presentation in Odissi dance derived from an inspiring and popular poem by Odia poet Radha Mohan Gadanayak.
Ratikant Mohapatra choreographed both the items. "The items have the distinct character of traditional Odissi and there are elements of contemporary dance expression," said Mohapatra.
Vizarsu Balasubramanium composed the music for Kirwani Madhurima and the script was penned by Nityananda Misra. Laxmikant Palit composed the music composition for Maati and the script adaptation is by Jaydev Das.
Audience were fascinated by a classical Carnatic violin recital by Ambi Subramaniam in raga Charukeshi.
Meanwhile, the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Awards for 2018 were conferred on two artistes - Lingaraj Behera and Satchi Das - for their contribution in the fields of dance and theatre.
The Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Yuva Pratibha Samman were presented to Sonali Mohapatra of Bhubaneswar and Subikash Mukherjee of Calcutta for Odissi, Swati Sinha of New Delhi for Kathak and Rohan Suresh Dahale of Mumbai for Odissi Mardala.
The award was instituted in 1995 by Ratikant Mohapatra, son and disciple of Kelucharan Mohapatra and director of Srjan, to recognise the contributions achievers in the fields of dance, music, cinema and theatre.
