Guru-shishya tradition shines at this dance festival
Creativity is the essence of dance,” feels Delhi-based Odissi and Chhau dancer Sushant Maharana. He and Guru Trinath Maharana have choreographed performances for the fifth Nrityamanjari Festival. The performances are the result of a year’s preparation by the members of Manjari Odissi Nrityalaya.
The festival will see riveting dance performances, some of which are titled as Shiv Stuti, Krishna Leela, Basant Pallavi, and Odissi-Chhau jugalbandi.
65 dancers, from five to fifty year olds, will perform there. “The stage has always been a perfect institution in itself. The festival aims to give a platform to budding artists. The experimental dance performances on semiclassical music are given a new lease of life. In the dance act Basant Pallavi, young kids will portray the essence of spring season and perform on the theme of new beginnings,” says Sushant.
Also experience an ode to the Guru-shishya tradition and the irreplaceable bond between parents and children, in a dance performance by Sushant. “The void that one feels in absence of our parents and gurus, whom we fall back on all our lives for guidance and support, is something that I have tried to portray in my act,” says the performer.
Sushant carries the legacy of his father, Odissi maestro Guru Shri Trinath Maharana and credits his expertise in Chhau to Guru Shri Shashadhar Acharya, a Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee. “Hamare Guru Odissi ko yahan tak laye, it’s our prerogative to help make the dance form reach new heights. Isko aur sundar banaye,” he adds.