Passionate about news and Odissi
‘I have been doing Odissi for 15 years and I have been extremely fond of classical dance’
Odissi is one of the six classical dance forms of India and traces its origin to the 6 century BC. Distinctly feminine in mood, an Odissi performance repertoire includes invocation, nritta (pure dance), nritya (expressive dance), natya (dance drama) and moksha (dance climax connoting freedom of the soul and spiritual release). Gauri Dwivedi, a journalist by profession and an emerging classical dancer recently performed at the India Habitat Centre. In a mesmerizing performance called Shakti, she depicted the various forms of Devi. She is Saraswati-the goddess of knowledge and learning, the deity of Ardhanarishvararepresenting lord Shiva’s consort Shakti, she is also Mahakali- the dark and furious incarnation of Durga, adorned with garlands of huge skulls and smears of ashes from the ground. Gauri has previously performed at Chakradhar Samaroh in Chattisgarh, Mahabalipuram dance festival in Tamil Nadu, Taj Mahotsav in Agra, Legends of India festival at Kamani auditorium, Festival of Indian classical dances in Oslo, Norway and many more.
Gauri began her recital with Saraswati Vandana, worshipping mother of the universe in all her glory. The second depiction of Devi-Ardhanarishvara was based on the beautiful Adi Shankaracharya’s Ardhanariswara Stotram and featured Shiva Shakti- half God and half goddess and features embodiment of male and female. One of the 64 manifestations of Shiva, the man-woman form with Parvati constituting the left half of Shiva is Ardhanarishvara. The act represents the synthesis of masculine and feminine energies of the universe. Most of the acts of recital- “Shakti” was choreographed by Padma Vibhushan Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and the music was composed by Pandit Bhubaneswar Mishra.
Talking about her journey, Gauri said, “I have been doing Odissi for 15 years and before that I did Bharatnatyam for 10 years. I have been very fond of classical dance and from a very young age of 8, I started learning Odissi under the tutelage of Ipsita and now I am furthering my art with Sujata Mohapatra.”
Continuing the dance recital, Gauri began with Hamsadhwani Pallavi- a pure dance of elaboration, which starts with artistic poses and gradually proceeds to form intricate body and foot movements in tune with rhythmic music. It seeks to express various moods of the melody. Pallavi starts with slow pace and elaborates with increased speed and fast rhythms into pure dance style. Gauri, gracefully carried herself to express the various moods of rhythm, gazed into the eyes of the audience with confidence, enchanting the viewers with the power of her dance. Gauri concluded Shakti with Mahakali stuti in which the dancer expresses life by worshipping the goddess Mahakali through the vocabulary of Indian classical dance.
“I try and put everything with as much sincerity as possible”, Gauri said when asked about how she manages to practice dance.
‘I try and put everything with as much sincerity as possible’