Odissi dance evening

Tamoghna's graceful movements kept the audience spellbound.Photo: STAR

Music enthusiasts of the port city were treated to a special evening of Odissi dance, a famous Indian classical dance art form.
Odissi and Tagore Dance Movement Centre, Chittagong, arranged the event titled “Guru Parampara” at Theatre Institute, Chittagong (TIC) that featured dance performances of Guru Deepak Roy, a senior disciple of Odissi maestro Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra and also a senior teacher of Odissi Centre, Mascot, and his youngest talented disciple Tamoghna Dey.
The auditorium teemed with spellbound dance aficionados.
Earlier, a short discussion was held. Chaired by the Centre's president Dr. Anupam Sen the discussion was addressed among others by Indian Assistant Commissioner to Chittagong Somnath Ghosh, noted dance artiste Sharmila Bandyopadhyaya and Guru Deepak Roy.
Terming dance as a universal language of expression, Somnath said, we should keep the art form alive for the new generation.
Sen stressed that long attentive practice of classical dance is the only means of acquiring knowledge of this dance form.
Expressing his gratitude to the Odissi and Tagore Dance Movement Centre for arranging the programme, Guru Deepak said, it was a great opportunity for his disciple Tamoghna as she got a chance to display her skills before a huge audience in her hometown.In her speech, Sharmila Bandyopadhyay said, dance and song are part and parcel of cultural life. “Such an arrangement would be favourable inclusion in the endeavour to revive classical music,” she added.
Proma Abanti gave a welcome speech at the programme.
The programme started with Tamoghna's “Mangalachoron”, an introductory piece in Odissi form through which the performers seek blessings of the audience, percussionists and above all the creator and earth.
Later, she performed a “Batukeshwar”, a style used in Odissi that helps the audience to understand that the dance is inspired and materialised by myriad sculptures of the ancient temples of South India, followed by a “Pallabi”.
Tamoghna's hand gestures, commonly known as mudras, expressive eyes and graceful movements kept the audience spellbound.
Following the performance, Guru Deepak performed from “Gita Gobinda”, choreographed by his guru Odissi maestro Padmabibhushan Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra, which depicted the Radha and the Gopis' pleas to Krishna.
The programme ended with a group dance performance of “Moksha”.