Sristi Dance Academy

Students of the Karunamoyee and DB Block-based Sristi Dance Academy take the stage twice a year. One is for their annual day, when the focus is on classical and creative styles. But given the preeminence of Tagore in the city’s cultural map they put up another programme dedicated solely to works by the bard.

This year the students had some celebrities for company. Actors Soumitra Chatterjee and Madhabi Mukherjee opened their show by reciting Tagore’s poem Pujarini. Providing the background music was musician Sitangshu Majumdar and dancing to the piece was the founder of the school Indrani Ganguly along with Avirup Sengupta.

Little performers of Sristi Dance Academy at Rabindra Okakura Bhavan

The students then went on to dance to Tagore’s songs on seasons. For summer, they performed to Darun agni bane re, for monsoon it was Pagla hawa, for autumn Sarat tomar arun alor anjali and for spring Phagun haway. The high point of the show was the presentation of Ami chini go chini in both traditional and Western dance styles.

“Juggling office and household chores, we are unable to attend any cultural function on Rabindra Jayanti. So today’s function is doubly enjoyable for us,” smiled FE Block’s Krishnendu Mukhopahdyay, whose nine-year-old daughter Krittika danced to Mamo chittey.

The institute, that teaches Bharatanatyam, Odissi, folk and creative dance is eight years old and has 50 students in Salt Lake. They also conduct free dance classes for underprivileged children in Garia. These 20 children performed on stage and were gifted school bags and tiffin boxes by the guest actors on behalf of the school.

“The young dancers on stage today are our future. Tomorrow we’ll be gone but they will carry on the legacy,” said Madhabi Mukherjee before reciting Tagore’s Thakbona bhai....

CA Block

Residents of CA Block celebrated the 14th edition of their Rabindra-Nazrul show at its community hall recently.

The show opened with Hey nutan dekha dik sung in chorus by members of the block’s ladies’ club. The event was organised jointly by CA Block Ladies’ Club and CA Block Welfare Association and the block association president, Kamal Ghosh, then delivered the inaugural speech welcoming the audience.

Resident Ratna Dutta sang a Nazrulgeeti Amar aponer cheye apon je jon followed by a dance item by two teenagers, Tiyasha Patua and Kausturi Pathak. Apart from song and dance, there was an interactive session on Tagore and Nazrul.

“There are many aspects of both Tagore and Nazrul Islam’s lives that are little known. I came to know so much today,” said Rahul Biswas, a resident of CA Block.

Kolkata Uchchhas

A DB Block-based dance group celebrated World Dance Day and Rabindrajayanti together on May 12. Kolkata Uchchhas has members from around the city but it runs two schools in DB Block. Young dancers of these schools performed at DB 7, where both the schools are run from.

Little Bulbuli dances

The event was a celebration of multiple forms of dance, performed to different types of music. It began with a recital dedicated to the river Ganges and made way for group dances to modern Bengali hits like Jao pakhi bolo and then folk numbers. There were also dances to film songs like O humdum suniyo re from Saathiya and Dheem ta dare from Thakshak.

“My performance was a surprise Mother’s Day gift for my mother, who is sitting in the audience,” said Jasashwi Chowdhury of Class VIII, after his classical piece. “I have learnt Bharatanatyam before but have recently enrolled for western dance here.”

The youngest dancer was Vijayshree Das, a two-and-a-half-year old fondly called Bulbuli. So little was she that she had to be carried onto the stage so she could dance to Amra shobai raja. There was a smattering of Rabindrasangeet, Palligeeti and modern Bengali songs provided by guardians of the dancers.

“World Dance Day is as important to us as Rabindrajayanti is and so we included all forms of dances. We asked students to innovate with their choreography as per the music,” said Sonali Basak, the founder of Kolkata Uchchhas. Her son Swarnav Kris runs their western dance wing Kris where he teaches jazz and ballet. Her daughter Sreemoyee Kaushiki teaches Bharatanatyam in another wing, Sree. Sreemoyee herself performed classical moves to the song Tum hi ho from the film Aashiqui 2.

DL Block ladies wing

The ladies wing of DL Block ends up paying extra to the auditorium in Natyosodh Sansthan every year as their Rabindra-Nazrul Jayanti programme exceeds the time limit allotted to them. But this year they finished with more than half an hour in hand.

“When we chose the date for our function this year we had failed to note that it was the day after Jamai Sashthi,” said member Sumitra Basu. “Many of our star singers have left for their parents’ houses for the weekend and we are short of artistes.”

So Saheli, the ladies wing of DL Block, made some changes this year to make up for the fewer singers without harming the quality of the show. For one, there were no solo performances this year. Instead 16 ladies performed together to Tagore and Nazrul songs.

The Rabindrasangeets were led by Bharati Chatterjee. The Nazrulgeeti chorus was led by Sapna Bhanja Chowdhury. “The most lively performances were the ones with which we had dancers,” said president of the group Roma Sarkar.

The dancers — Ambalika Chatterjee and Manjishtha Mitra — were left to rehearse on their own. “We singers practised together for a month for this show but I never saw my daughter practise once,” said Bhaswati Mitra, Manjishtha’s mother. “I saw her dance to this song for the first time today.”

But the tech-savvy Manjishtha had found a way to juggle dance with office. “I went to the aunties’ song rehearsal once and recorded the songs on my mobile. I heard it in the car while driving to work for a week, conceptualised the steps in my mind and performed today,” said Manjishtha, as audience members gathered around her to congratulate her on her finesse.

“Our club has been around for 21 years now and every year we celebrate Rabindra-Nazrul Jayanti,” said Sarkar.

BJ Park Morning Walkers Association

On the birth anniversary of Nazrul Islam, BJ Park Morning Walkers’ Association organised an early morning programme to pay tribute to the poet.

Dancers perform at the BG Block programme

Members gathered around a shed in BJ Park around 6.30am and the event began with a chorus by members Santana Ghosh, Samir Bech, Dipika Roy Choudhury and Mrinal Kanti Bhattacharya among others. Various Nazrul poems were recited too. One such was done by Pijus Kanti Mukherjee, a 91-year-old resident of BJ Block. “Regular morning walks keep me healthy enough to recite,” smiled Mukherjee.

There was more singing by Ashok Dutta Gupta and Subha Sengupta and recitation by Shankar Prasad Ghosh. Parimal Gupta recited a self-composed poem dedicated to Nazrul Islam. “Our association is 10 years old now,” said Gupta. “And our youngest member is 50 years old.”

Soubhik Chakrabarti

BG Block

Around 30 residents came together to put up an evening of Tagore and Nazrul works in BG Block. The show was organised under the BG Block Residents’ Association banner in the block’s community hall.

The programme included music and recitation as well as plays. Gita Guin and Lina Dutta performed Chander hasi badh bhengechhe while Class VII student Raibat Sinha took part in a Tagore play.

“I play the part of a sick person who is suffering from cough and cold,” said the DPS student who had been rehearsing for two weeks. “It wasn’t enough practice but I am sure I will do well,” he said before taking stage. Poems like Tagore’s Sonar tori were also recited.

“We try to organise such functions on festive occasions throughout the year,” said Pradyumna Sinha, block president.

Soubhik Chakrabarti

Balaka housing complex, New Town

Residents young and old joined forces to put up a Rabindra-Nazrul evening at New Town’s Balaka housing complex.

The inaugural song was sung by Jiaur Rahman, a resident and a professional singer. Rahman teaches music in the complex and his young students went on to perform songs like Amra shobai raja and Purano shei diner katha. Women too put up a formidable performance with songs like Aji bijon ratey by Arati Paul and Oi malatilata by Monalisa Biswas.

Uma Bhanjasree recited a poem on pochishey Baisakh. “I indulge in the arts to remain active. While I am delighted to be performing before a full house today, I recite two poems every day in my empty house,” said 76-year-old who lives alone.

But the most popular items were the dances, performed mostly by tots. Mother Tapasi Biswas looked on proudly as her six-year-old daughter Ahana flashed a toothless smile dancing to Mamo chittey in a group. “She’s wearing my sari that I double-folded to fit her,” she smiled.

The highlight of the evening was the dance by Mrinalini Biswas, who teaches Bharatanatyam to all the children who performed.

“We have been holding this show every year since we moved here 10 years ago,” said Kalipada Sahoo, cultural secretary of Balaka’s residents body Rajhid Co-operative Housing Society. “We wanted to pull residents, particularly the children, away from film songs aired on TV for an evening so they could witness how rich Tagore and Nazrul’s works are,” said secretary Swarup Ray.

BF Block

People rushed to the recently renovated Laban Hrad Mancha in BD Park when Srikanta Acharya began singing Emon diney tarey in keeping with the monsoon mood. BF Block Residents’ Association, along with the block’s ladies wing, was hosting a Rabindra Nazrul evening and Acharya was the star attraction.

The sound system was often found wanting but the audience listened with rapt attention and requests poured in even after he sang five songs at a stretch.

The programme began with a chorus performance by residents and welcome speeches by the association’s office-bearers. Tanusree Banerjee, a disciple of Subinoy Roy, sang while Sanchaita Mondol, a student of Dona Ganguly’s, performed Odissi. There was also a group performance to Anandodhara bohichhey bhuboney by Sanchaita, Srijoni Biswas and Esha Mondol.

Madhumita Roy and Rumeli Dutta performed Nazrulgeeti. Suman Roychowdhury and his troupe presented a dance to Nazrul’s poem Kamal Pasha. Nazrulgeeti singer Parthasarathi Basu began with Megh meduro barashay and ended with Chand herichhey chand mukh.

Bharati Kanjilal