Srjan will present NALCO Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award to Tabla maestro Guru Harmohan Khuntia and veteran Odissi dancer Guru Durga Charan Ranbir among others
BHUBANESWAR: Srjan Odissi Nrityabasa is all set to conduct Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award Festival from September 5 to 11 at Rabindra Mandap here.
After his passing in 2004, this event has assumed special meaning for all of us‐his students and all those whom he has touched worldwide.
The aim of instituting and presenting the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award is to confer recognition upon individuals for their outstanding contribution to the fields of dance, music, cinema and theatre.
Furthermore, the Award Festival has always been organised with one specific aim to create and sustain awareness of our classical traditions in dance and music. The aim here is to give our Odisha audience an exposure to classical fare of the highest level, presenting stellar performances by classical artistes.
Srjan has curated this year’s festival with a range of music recitals featuring world renowned artistes, with a special evening highlighting Odissi music. Furthermore, to honour and pay tribute to Guruji’s lifelong passion of Odissi dance, all dance performances over this seven‐day award festival are group presentations by established and well‐known Odissi dance institutions of Odisha.
This year, instead of the two awards presented each year to acclaimed artistes, Srjan will present five such awards. The NALCO Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award has an allocation of Rs. 1,00,000 to each artiste and a citation. The ‘NALCO Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award 2019’ will be presented to Guru Harmohan Khuntia, Tabla maestro, for his immense contribution to the field of Music, Guru Durga Charan Ranbir, veteran Odissi dancer for his invaluable work to the field of dance, to Sunil Kothari and Smt. Leela Venkataraman, eminent dance critics and authors, for their lifetime achievements and contribution to the performing arts, and renowned art photographer, Avinash Pasricha, for his pioneering work in the field of photography.
In addition to the above, the Nalco Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Yuva Prativa Samman, will be given to five exceptionally talented performing artistes under the age of 40 years in the field of classical dance. Its primary focus is to revive the all‐important role of the solo dancer in the classical idiom, in an effort to instil a continuing sense of purpose in the young dancer. The award is presented with a cash prize of Rs. 25,000 each and a citation, and this year it will be presented to Swapnokalpa Dasgupta (Odissi Dance), Rahul Acharya (Odissi Dance), Rajashri Praharaj (Odissi Dance), Anwesa Mahanta (Sattriya Dance), and Satyabrata Katha (Odissi Music).
After the GKCM Award presentation on 11th September, the Srjan dance ensemble will present the production ‘Namami Gange’ choreographed by Guru Ratikant Mohapatra, scripted by Pandit Nityananda Mishra, and set to Lakshmikant Palit’s music. ‘Namami Gange’ is the story of the descent of mother Ganga from the locks of Lord Shiva. Beginning with an invocation to Ganga, the story of the river starts with the Ashwamedha Yagna of King Sagara.
