Artistes perform at Rabindra Mandap in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati.

Bhubaneswar, March 21: Young Odissi dancers charmed the audience with their compositions that were a tribute to legendary adi guru Pankaj Charan Das at the three-day festival Guru Pankaj Utsav held in the city’s Rabindra Mandap.

The Odissi festival that concluded on March 19, also saw the presentation of the prestigious Mahari Award.

Known as the great-grandfather of Odissi dance, Pankaj Charan Das was considered a descendant of the Mahari temple ritual dance of Jagannath temple, Puri.

The festival was inaugurated on Thursday with a charming Mahari performance by young dancer Ananya Shrusti. The 12-year-old performed a Jhulana ritual based on the Mahari piece Jhulibe ta aaji.

The first day was a kaleidoscope of beautiful recitals by bright Odissi artistes. Gayatri Ranbir, daughter of guru Durga Charan Ranbir, presented an artistic piece to a pallavi on raga vasant. She also rendered an abhinaya, following which promising dancer Snigdha Madhusmita Mohanty performed a skilful piece.

A recital by Rashmi Raj, disciple of Gangadhar Pradhan, was remarkable. Rhythmic movements in tandem with speaking expressions won the hearts of viewers when Rai performed a pallavi and a Durga stutee.

Dancer Luck Pragyan Mohanty grabbed eyeballs with a fascinating Hansadhwani pallavi that he rendered with grace.

The second evening was replete with performances by young performers such as Ladlee Mukherjee, who presented a Mahari sequence, Manisha Manaswini, Pallavi Beriha, Sagyan Sucharita Nayak and Arpita Venkatesh and Purnashree Rout.

The 17th Mahari Award was presented to Subhada on Saturday at the event. A disciple of guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, the talented dancer has also been a choreographer and a dance teacher.

She runs the dance institution Sanskrita. At the festival, she performed her well-appreciated production Kanupriya based on Dharmabir Bharti’s poetry. Her performance earned the danseuse many rounds of applause.

“I feel humbled for having been bestowed an honour that has the name of guru Pankaj Charan Das associated with it. I want to carry on the legacy of the gurus,” said Subhada.

Senior dancers Satabdi Mallik and Gayatri Chand, both disciples of Durga Charan Ranbir, cast a spell on the audience on the concluding day. Dancers Leena Nanda and Soumya Bose also gave an enthralling performance.

The festival was organised by the city-based Guru Pankaj Charan Odissi Research Foundation.