Kelucharan Mohapatra 19th Death Anniversary: It’s hard to look away from Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra when you’re watching a video of a lecture performance on Odissi dance from 1985. He exhibits both the tandava and lasya bhaav (masculine and feminine feelings) with a steady stance, fluid movements, and perfect posture. At times, he appears to be a sculpture from an old sanctuary.
In a sense, he had a very graphic approach to dancing. According to Sujata Mohapatra, a well-known performer of Odissi and Mohapatra’s daughter-in-law, “He used to emphasise a lot on the correct posture while teaching as he came from a family of Pattachitra (a traditional Odia art form) practitioners.” He thought of the dancer as a sculpture and incorporated the dancer’s motions and contours into his choreography. You’ll get the impression that he’s trying to make a shape, and a dancer requires encouragement to get there.
“He knew precisely how to push you to bring out your best… He was in every way a stickler, she tells ThePrint.
On January 8, 1926, Kelucharan Mohapatra, also known as Kelu Babu, was born in Raghurajpur, an Odia heritage hamlet well-known for its Gotipua dancers and Pattachitra paintings. He was first exposed to the realm of percussion by his father, who played the traditional khol, a percussion instrument. Later, Mohapatra joined the Annapurna drama, where he performed dances, played pakhawaj, and studied the nuances of Odia drama. His practise of Odissi dance benefited from all of these abilities.
Guru Mohapatra leaves the fast footwork to others at 75, according to Anna Kisselgof, a dance critic and cultural reporter for the New York Times, in her review of his show from 2000. However, like the best Kabuki performers, he has the ability to move the audience with a raised eyebrow, a quiet giggle, and a body in an expressive pose.
Kelucharan Mohapatra made more than 200 solo works and roughly 50 dance ballets, and he had a significant impact on the development of Odissi dance.
Tribute:
Recently, on the 13th anniversary of the great guru’s mahaprayan (death), Odissi dancers from all over the globe paid their respects by performing both new productions and choreography by the late great guru.
I had the good fortune to witness the two-day festival held at the GKCM Research Centre in Bhubaneswar in honour of the legend by his principal disciple and son, who is now a guru in his own right. There, Guru Kelucharan’s students met informally to share memories of their glory years spent studying under him.
Ileana Citaristi, an Italian disciple of Guru ji who currently resides in Bhubaneswar, presided over the first day’s early session. Ananga Dwivedi, who wrote Konark for Guruji’s dance-drama of the same name, and Satchidananda Das, a mardala player, were two of the speakers who shared their first-hand knowledge of the guru. Satchidananda Das spoke of the way Guru ji played the mardala, which entered one’s heart as a piece of fine poetry. He was characterised as a Karma Yogi who was meticulous by speaker Sneha Samant Ray. He was referred to by Ramesh Chandra Das as a Jibanta Iswar (living deity) with a wonderful sense of humour. Citaristi claimed, “He was an instrument in my destiny.”
Sangita Gossain, an assistant professor at Utkal University and the director of the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Research Center, was one of the distinguished speakers. Gurujihad, according to her, has a tremendous potential to inspire.He was a patachitra artist who, in addition to using sign language in nations where he was a foreigner, used his ability to draw to communicate himself. For him, every event served as a learning curve. Even during a heart operation, he used the chance to ask Dr. Devi Shetty how much pressure should be applied to which parts of the body to prevent injury. As a result, he was able to modify his dance moves accordingly. The stories about him were countless.
Before beginning their separate pieces on the first evening, Rajashree Praharaj, Ileana Citaristi, Itisree Devi, Pranati Mohanty, and Rajib Bhattacharya performed Guru Pranam. Praharaj, a recipient of the Pandit Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar, left a lasting impression with her flawless performance of the choreographed Ardhanariswara. Mohanty’s abhinaya piece, Kuru Yadu nandana, which was carefully taught to her by Guru ji, was the show-stopper. Many people exited the hall crying.
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The following evening, the followers of Srjan presented Samakala, a traditional performance modelled on modern Odissi. It once again demonstrated Guru Ratikant Mohapatra’s unmatched ability to teach students to the highest standards. In Synthesis, the sculptures on the sanctuary walls emerged from their seclusion to create countless tala patterns in addition to the contemporary compositions. The students’ sculpture-like bodies added well to the piece.
In the duet by Madhava Nritya, Praharaj excelled as Rai, elaborating on the majority of the nine feelings to produce rasa. The poem Vithala Smarane was pure dedication.
The Tanjavur quartet composed an evening of Bharatanatyam margam for Mosaic, a company established by Bharatanatyam performer-cummentor Mohana Iyer. It recapped what Balasaraswati had disclosed many years earlier, namely that each component of the Bharatanatyam margam corresponds to various locations within the temple. Saint poetess Ouvaiyaar created a mosaic with the intention of achieving Saayujyam, or a divine link invoking Ganesha.
The next performance was Alarippu, a Sangeet Natak Akademi fellow’s choreography in the ragas Navarasakanada and Misra Chapu Talam. Alarippu is to the Bharatnatyam repertoire as the gopuram is to a shrine.The Jatiswaram, a pure dance, and the outer prakaram, an open area with a particular geometric structure, are similar. Mohana Iyer performed it in Mohana ragam and adi talam, and Mridangam Vidhwan R Srinivasan created the repetitive musical sounds that accompanied it.
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The presentation of Sabdam, a Madurai N Krishnan composition in the ragam Malika, highlighted the interior prakaram, which is adorned with numerous sculptures and paintings of deities on pillars. Sabdam was a sacred object to Kartikeya’s mother. Naturally, a Varnam was required because the Lord is housed in the garbhagriham, also known as the sanctuary sanctorum. It required a great lot of skill to perform, and it was given to an esteemed group of rasikas. In it, the seeker and truth, or the devotee and the deity, reached a point of union. The marriage of the jeevatma and the paramatma was an obvious consequence of the composition. It was symbolic, showing how the jeevatma would be unable to live without the paramatma. The paramatma in this instance is a peacock-riding offspring of Shiva. It was a TS Kalyanasundaram Pillai song in the Kamboji ragam. The choreography was created by Mohana Iyer, the instructor.
Tulsi Das’s well-known bhajan Sri Ramchandra kripalu bhajaman was moving. Included was a Madhura Bhakti Padam by Kalanidhi Narayanan that displayed the Srinagara colour. It addressed the subject of separation and unity using everyday language. The rasikas enjoyed Subbarama Iyer’s composition, which was in the ragam Kapi andadi tala. Rituparna Pal and Pritam Das performed Padam, which is typically done solo. A Madhurai N Krishnan Tillana, in which the dancers completely abandoned themselves to rhythm and movement, brought the event to a close. Mohana Iyer composed the music for the performance. Dancers in the making include Anisha Parameshwaran, Ranu Saha, Rituparna Pal, Shantanu Roy, and Pritam Das.
Teamwork is necessary for a performance event to succeed. Good movement alone is insufficient. The amphitheatre should provide dancers and rasikas with the most comfort possible, among other things. Rasika Ranjani Hall fell short of everyone’s expectations. A critic has little chance of doing the performers credit in such oppressive heat. While there may be a number of reasons why the sabha is unable to modernise the hall, in my view, that needs to be seriously considered.
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