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Bhubaneswar, Aug. 20: Artistes from the city and outside paid tribute to every Odissi dancer’s role model, Sanjukta Panigrahi, on Sunday before her 68th birth anniversary.
The dance concert titled — a tribute to Sanjukta Panigrahi — featured promising women artistes who dedicated their performances to the legendary dancer.
Dancer Rajashree Prahraj from Srjan presented a special composition of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. The guru who had taught Panigrahi, had especially choreographed Ardhanariswar for his most illustrious disciple. The sequence describes the duality of human existence in form of male and female giving the example of Lord Shiva and Parvati. Rajashree showcased this composition at the Rabindra Mandap auditorium. The audience seemed appreciative, breaking into applause.
Other artistes from Srjan also performed at the event. Ratikant Mohapatra’s choreography Guru Bandana — which hails the teacher — was an apt piece dedicated to Panigrahi, who had taken Odissi to great heights with her unmatched ability to perform and efforts to promote the dance form.
Following a couple of Odissi recitals, young dancer Divya Devaguptapu performed a repertoire of Bharatnatyam. An electrical engineer from the University of Madras, this telecommunications professional gave up her career to pursue her dream to be a Bharatanatyam dancer. Today she performs and teaches dance in San Diego, USA, and also in Chennai.
Divya began her recital with an invocation of Goddess Shakti. She brought out the different virtues of a woman with ease in this performance. Her piece on a Radha and Krishna romance was also appealing and was appreciated by the viewers.
“This performance was charming and it was a pleasure to watch Radha and Krishna’s tales of love in Bharatnatyam since it is usually depicted in Odissi also. We hope to see a bigger event with more publicity for someone as legendary as Sanjukta Panigrahi,” said Dilip Kumar Behera, a viewer.
The programme was jointly organised by Bhubaneswar Music Circle and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in memory of Panigrahi whose birth anniversary will be observed on August 24.
