A riveting display of classical dance
Renowned Bangladeshi Kathak exponent Munmun Ahmed celebrated her 50th birthday through displaying a riveting dance recital at Chhayanaut auditorium, Dhanmondi on December 27. Munmun's daughter and disciple Aporajita Mustafa, who turns 20 this year, danced at a special event tiled “Fifty-Twenty Kathak Jugalbandi”, along with some other performers of Munmun's Rewaz Performers' School.
Noted Nazrul Sangeet artiste and Munmun's husband Sujit Mustafa delivered welcome address at the event. “It is my daughter Aporajita, who comes with the idea that we should dance together marking my 50th birthday,” said Munmun Ahmed. The programme was set off with guru vandana, featuring technical pieces like thaat, uthan, padan, padan amod, parmilu, tehai, tukra, thumri, tarana and jugalbandi pieces by Munmun Ahmed and Aporajita.
The recital was accompanied by noted Indian sitarist Chandrachur Bhattacharya and tabla artiste Utpal Ghoshal. They came to Dhaka to accompany Munmun's Guru, the legendary Pt. Birju Maharaj in a three-day kathak festival at Chhayanaut. Promising Bangladeshi vocalist Tanjina Karim Swaralipi sang live to embellish the dance performance.
The audience received graceful expressions and riveting display of dance by the mother and daughter on teentaal. They showcased the artistic gestures while standing on thaat while being brisk in displaying footwork in technical parts.
Munmun Ahmed in her solo part and some jugalbandi parts performed some exquisite dance pieces, including a hunter's watchful seeking and hunting; throwing a cricket ball; riding a train, an abhinaya-(acting) styled recital and parmilu incorporating various sounds of cuckoo, frog and crickets.
The audience, enthralled by the performances by the artistes, produced rounds of applause every now and then.
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