Bhubaneswar, March 17: The Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Research Centre has a new building on its premises, but the foundation principles of the institution are crumbling with no research having been done there for more than a decade.
Established to take Odissi dance and music to new heights by promoting research and documentation with the chief minister as its chairman, the institution is now reduced to an event management organisation.
Set up in 1986, the centre has produced well-known dancers, such as Sujata Mohapatra and Meera Das. Eminent dance gurus, including the legendary Mohapatra after whom the institution was named, used to conduct dance classes here. Today, the faculty has thinned down from 21 to four and the repertory of the centre does not function any more.
"We were trained here. But at most cultural programmes hosted by the centre, our job was to present bouquets to the guests, while artistes from Utkal University of Culture performed. If at all we got a chance, it would be a group show. We never got a solo show and consequently, most of us resigned," said a dancer from the last repertory on the condition of anonymity.
The artiste also alleged that after eight years of training at the centre, including internship, they were not given a certificate.
Only seven students stay at the centre's old hostel, which has facilities adequate only for them. Now, a new poorly designed hostel has been built. The look of the new facility clashes with the traditional design of the centre built with khandolite stone.
There are no students to stay in the new hostel, though lakhs have been spent on it. It has been lying empty for the past one year.
Slum dwellers from nearby areas had encroached on the premise, but a fence was erected following government intervention.
When asked about the situation, CEO of the institution Jagannath Kuanr said he had joined only a few months ago and did not have much information about the squatters.
The centre, which was set up for research, is more involved in organising events such as Konark festival and Mukteswar festival. It is another matter that the centre has never sponsored fellowships or research projects. Only two volumes of a book on the grammar of Odissi - Odissi Nrutya Sarani - was compiled by veteran danseuse Kumkum Mohanty, during her tenure as the CEO till 2004. Five cassettes on Odissi music were also brought out then.
The Odissi Research Centre is an autonomous body and the state government's funds keep flowing. But, there is no visible work. One can only find old videos of legendary dancers stacked up in the archives of the centre, of which some have been converted into CDs but not used for any research.
However, the authorities say that things would improve but when asked how, they do not have an answer.
"Students will come in and the new hostel will be used. Things will be better in future," said culture minister Ashok Panda.
Former CEO of the centre Kumkum Mohanty said the institution was in a terrible state.
"With no research or documentation being done, the centre has transformed into a cheap school for amateur dancers. Also, it has become an event management organisation busy with dance festivals all the time, while its own repertory doesn't exist anymore. The chief minister should himself look into the matter since he is the chairman. Odissi is the ambassador for the state across the world and this is injustice to it," she said.
