Dona Ganguly performs Chitrangada in Bhubaneswar on the occasion of Rabindranath Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary celebrations. She is also wife of former cricketer Sourav Ganguly. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Sept.16: Odissi danseuse Dona Ganguly paid tribute to Rabindranath Tagore on the occasion of his 150th birth anniversary celebrations at Rabindra Mandap on September 12 by performing one of his celebrated creations Chitrangada.

The Odissi representation of the dance drama vividly illustrated the tale of human nature and the bond of love. Dona presented the recital along with young disciples from Diksha Manjari, her institute of dance and music.

The mythological dance drama portrayed how warrior Arjuna visits various empires to befriend kings of the neighbourhood. When he reaches Manipur, the brave and tomboyish princess Chitrangada poses a tough challenge for Arjuna in war but falls in love with him eventually.

Asking the Gods to make her beautiful, Chitrangada turns into an attractive woman and captivates Arjuna with her charm. But her obsession calms down when she realises that beauty is not the essence of love, rather emotions are. She then returns to her original state. The timeless tale was well depicted by Dona and her troupe. The audience appreciated the performance with loud applause.

“This dance drama is one of the most amazing works by Tagore. Dona Ganguly and her team performed the item in an elaborate and interesting manner,” said Sasmita Pradhan, a viewer.

While the whole world is observing Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary in different ways, this was Dona’s way of paying homage to him.

“Odissi is my forte and thus I preferred to stage Chitrangada here in Orissa to show reverence to Gurudev,” said the danseuse.

While Dona presented the vicious nature of Chitrangada, her disciple Baisakhi Ganguli played the transformed facet of the protagonist.

Odissi vocalist Sangeeta Gosain had translated Tagore’s play into Oriya for the event and Subrato Mukherjee, Rabindra Sangeet musician, had composed for the performance. Dona had done the choreography herself.

Culture minister Prafulla Samal and eminent musician Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi were present at the event.

Culture secretary Ashok Tripathy said the Union ministry of culture had agreed to build a museum dedicated to Tagore at Jagatsinghpur’s Pandua village where the poet had spend a large part of his life and even created some of his distinguished works.

Two more Rabindra Mandap auditoriums would be built in the state, one in Cuttack and another in Puri, Tripathy said.