NAMAN Festival, Bangalore

Dear Friends,
A NRITYANTAR presentation
NAMAN Festival (Odissi) 2024, Bengaluru
31 August - 2 Sept, 2024
Artistic Direction
Guru Madhulita Mohapatra
Indeed, the 13th NAMAN Festival 2024 presented by NRITYANTAR under the artistic direction of Guru Madhulita Mohapatra, was a special experience for us.
What came out was the essential and enduring essence of the human spirit that Dance was able to bring to the fore.
For one, we were bawled over by the hospitality and positivity of the organising team led by Guru Madhulita Mohapatra. Together with this ‘lightness of being’ in a friendly environment, was the intense engagement that took place between dancers/students and the distinguished panelists comprised of gurus, writers and theatre stalwarts (Smt Leela Venkataraman, Smt Tapati Chowdurie, Shri Kedar Mishra, Shri VV Ramani and Shri Abdul Latheef Naha & Datuk Ramli Ibrahim).
And last but not least, the high standard of Odissi training, from the young to the more matured dancers. The Festival brought out the togetherness, dignity and empowerment of a classical dance system (Odissi), a product of the exposure, training and amiable atmosphere the participants had soaked in, under Madhulita Ji.
At NAMAN, Odissi seemed to bask with the joy of positive reaffirmation.
The festival itself was a wonderful platform for artistes and dance students of NRITYANTAR, not only to perform but to understand what it takes to present a production. Jobs were shared and responsibilities distributed; everyone seemed to know what they had to do and they delivered. At the same time, the focus was on getting as much knowledge from the experience and performing one’s art to the best of one’s ability. These were not compromised.
The NRITYANTAR day performance at ADA Rangamandira on 31 August, featured senior and junior dancers, showcasing the good training provided by NRITYANTAR under Madhulita. I was not surprised as for a number of years now, I had followed and observed the distinctive quality and result of Madhulita’s good teaching.
The main performance night on 1 September was packed. Bangalore audience must have looked forward to this annual event of Odissi Festival which had consistently maintained a high standard.
The three performances of Odissi were well received.
NRITYANTAR opened with the premiere of a new work inspired by the Ramayana, choreographed by Madhulita with libretto by Kedar Mishra.
Sutra Foundation presented ‘An Invitation to Odissi’ performed by Geethika Sree, Vickneshwaran and Tan Mei Mei & Ramli Ibrahim (Sutradhar), was inspired by the classic repertoire of the Debaprasad parampara.
NAMAN concluded with Odissi Dance Centre, choreographed by Guru Devjani Sen, an established Odissi guru in Bengaluru.
The next day NAMAN ended with a very interesting panel discussion at the Mount Carmel College, organised by its Department of Communication Studies. The discussion provided a fitting summary of the Festival and was moderated by Smt Sahana Das, who steered the discussion to interesting and useful areas.
In retrospect, one is amazed by what can be achieved with Dance and community participation.
The image of Mihika, the three-year old daughter of Madhulita who commanded our attention whenever she appeared on stage, comes to mind.
Mihika represented the spirit of Dance - pure, totally unconscious of herself, a reminder of what we were all once like. Profound choreography and expensive venues were forgotten once Mihika took the stage. Glued to our seats, our eyes were riveted on her aura. Mihika, totally in rhythm, danced her way to our hearts and released us with a ‘Lightness of Being’.
Ramli