Bhubaneswar, Sept. 9: She may be in her late 70s, but veteran actress and dancer Vyjayanthimala Bali’s performance left the audience in awe at the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award festival on Friday evening at the Rabindra Mandap auditorium here.

Her recital on the third evening of the festival showcased acrobatic agility and beautiful expressions.

She performed an invocatory piece for Lord Ganesh, a composition by Muthuswami Dikshitar. A poignant kirtanam in raga Jagan Mohini set to Tal Rupak composed by Gopalkrishna Bharathi followed.

In her abhinaya sequences she played a damsel pinning for Lord Padmanava and eagerly awaiting his arrival.

After a tarangini in raga Bagashree that depicted Lord Krishna dancing with the gopis, the dancer concluded with a Shubha Mangalam.

She was accompanied by a team of musicians that included Anahita Ravindran on vocals, Gayatri Sashidharan on nattuvangam, Guru Bhardwaj on mridangam and Chaitanya Kumar on flute.

“I had promised Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra to perform in Odisha long ago. I am happy to be here and have fulfilled his wish. It was amazing to dance for such a lovely crowd,” said the actress of yesteryears who was given a standing ovation by the audience.

An Odia drama Bhabana was also staged the same evening that tickled the funny bones of the audience and yet highlighted social issues.

The play originally written by Hindi writer Ramesh Meheta was translated by Amiya Bala and directed by Jayadev Das.

The fourth evening had in store yet another collage of music and dance. Flautist brothers Pankaj Nath and Paras Nath from Mumbai performed a fusion of classical, Western and Arabic tunes starting with raga Des and Hansadhawni.

They used instruments such as keyboard, tabla and drums. Atul Natinga played the keyboard while Vinayak Netke was on the tabla and Darsan Doshi on drums.

Kathak guru Chitresh Das performed on Saturday.