The rainbow of youth energy

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Indradhanush Dilli, a three-day festival of Indian classical and folk dances, was held recently in the national capital celebrating India’s vibrancy through dance.

The festival brought together youth dancers, including doctors and teachers, aged between 18 and 35 years to showcase their talent. With artistes from the US and Russia, complemented by folk dancers from Indian states such as Rajasthan, Assam and West Bengal, the festival was a blend of classical as well as folk dances.
The performances saw noted Manipuri classical dancer Sohini Ray, who is based in Los Angeles, Mukta Bharat Chhau group from West Bengal, Kathak by Natalie Dits from Russia, Bharatnatyam by Divya Shiva Sundar from Chennai etc.
“There were three motives in my mind when I conceptualised the festival in 2008. First, I wanted to give vibrant youth dancers the chance they seldom get to showcase their talent. Second, I wanted people to know what benefits classical dancers get from their dance. So every year I keep a seminar before the festival where learned people discuss various issues. This year the topic was ‘co-existence and interdependence of Indian classical dances and youth in the modern days’. Third, we wanted to felicitate the gurus who have nurtured many young artistes and are still nurturing youth talent,” says Kanaka Sudhakar, director of the festival.
Ms Sudhakar is happy to see that today a number of youth are taking classical dance as a profession in life and investing more and more time. “I am delighted to see more and more young people taking to classical dance. Though what we are doing is like a drop in the ocean, it gives pleasure to motivate people to take to classical dance,” says Ms Sudhakar.
Organised by Sunaina and co-sponsored by ministry of culture and the ICCR, the first day of Indradhanush Dilli 2013 began with a “gay spirit”. Besides, to honour those who have played an important role in promoting Indian classical dance, the Paras Mani Award was given to Guru Tara Balagopal.
The festival began with an inaugural dance by Akshita Pillai, a disciple of Kanaka Sudhakar, who performed the Ganesha Vandana — Gananayakaya Ganadevataya dimahi. It was followed by an Odissi dance by Sarita Misra. Her performance, Abhinaya Ganga, depicted the descent of the river Ganga from the heavens into the earth. The first day ended with a special performance by Sohini Ray, a Manipuri artiste from the US who has won the prestigious Lestor Horton award in 2008 for her production “Gita Govinda”. She presented Bhaktirasgi maangal khonjel: Sounds and lights of devotion — performed in India for the first time. It featured live dance pieces from classical Manipuri dance and film segments shot in the temples of Manipur showing the ritual roots of the dance form.
The second day of the festival saw Kathak performance by Natalia Dits from Russia followed by a performance of Richa Jain, an accomplished Kathak artiste. The most attractive performance of the evening was the Odissi performance by Maneesha Haldar, Shobha Bhisht, Shalakaha Rai and Prerna Agarwal, disciples of Guru Madhavi Mudgal. They started with Mangalacharan, dedicated to Lord Jagannath, and they concluded with Kha Champu, a piece of choreography by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra.
“I have been coming to Delhi on a regular basis. But I have never experienced an audience of such magnitude. They were very good and have applauded the dance we presented. It was a different experience this year,” says Sathvikaa Shankar, a Bharatnatyam dancer from Chennai.
While speaking about the competition and innovation required to excel in classical dance today, Sathvikaa says, “Today’s audience looks for innovation. Therefore, dance has become more competitive. As dance programmes are increasing every day, we have to come up with something different, which has that spark to create a space in the audience’s heart.” Talking about involvement of youngsters in classical dance, she says, “Today we see a lot of young people taking interest in classical dance, which was not seen four or five years ago. We have even seen youngsters motivating their friends to come to watch classical dance. This is a good development and will help in making classical dance more popular.”
The third and the final day of Indradhanush Dilli saw the flavour of regional dance — Naman Nritya from Maharashtra, Bihu from Assam and Garba from Gujarat. The Mukta Bharat Chhau troupe from Purulia, West Bengal, presented the drama of Mahishasura Mardini through Chhau dance. The jumps, dramatic masks of the peacock and the attractive masks of Kartik, Ganesha, Durga and Mahishasura were a delight to watch.
Belonging to very poor background and doing menial jobs to earn their livelihood, the Chhau dancers from Purulia presented one of the most path-breaking performances of the festival. “We don’t practice at a regular basis as we have to do different menial jobs to earn our livelihood. We do this dance as a break from our routine life and to add some kind of entertainment,” says Mahadeb Mahato, one of the Chhau dancers.
Though the audience loved their dance, the Chhau dancers were not happy with their performance as one of their dancers died just days before the performance because of starvation. “We are not happy as one of our dancing partners died just few days before the concert. Our friend died due to starvation caused by lack of food. Though we represent West Bengal by our dance, we are helpless and no one is here to listen to us,” says Mahato urging people to help them make the dance popular. In this chilling Delhi winter, the warmth of energetic and exciting dance presentations was a visual treat for the art lovers of the capital.