In the Khajuraho Dance Festival, dance performances filled with beats of tabla and mridang, jingle of ghungroos and graceful expressions are being seen everyday.
When the ghungroos rustle in the aura of the magnificent temples built by the Chandelas, the stone idols engraved on the temples come alive.
This whole scene makes such a collage in which all the colors are bright.
Even on the sixth day of the dance festival, this wonderful joy was deeply felt by the tourists.
Bharatanatyam by Janani Murali, Kuchipudi by Vyjayanthi Kashi and her colleagues, Kathak Odissi Jugalbandi by Nivedita Pandya and Soumya Bose and Odissi dance performances by Gajendra Kumar Panda and her colleagues added to the quotient of the celebrations.
The evening started with Bharatanatyam performance by Janani Murali from Bangalore.
His presentation was based on a mythological narrative. He introduced the likeness of Lord Skanda, whom we also know as Kartikeya, and Lord Krishna through dance. In this performance named Arulla i.e. Kripa, Janani presented the story of the birth of Skanda and Krishna with excellent dance moves.
Both are warriors. Skanda killed Surpadanam and Krishna killed Kansa and freed the people from their atrocities. Skanda is the teacher of Omkar, so Krishna is of Gita. Janani in her dance very well presented the similarity of both with the help of body movements and dance expressions. In this presentation, Guru Smt. Padma Murali on Natavangam, R.K. Raghuram, Karthik Vidatri on Mridang and Rakesh Das on flute supported him. The rhythm and music was composed by Sri Hari Rangaswamy and Narasimha Murthy.
The second performance was of Kuchipudi dance. Vyjayanthi Kashi and her partner started their dance with the dance composition Adibo al Adiba meaning “look there too”. “Look there too” in this presentation refers to the beauty of Lord Venkateswara, the beauty and grace of Sridevi Bhudevi. In the dance, Vyjayanthi and her colleagues made this performance unique with their choreography and step management on Annamachari’s composition Sri Harivasam. Vaijayanti next performed Pootna Vadha and concluded with Tarangam. The dance composition was by Vyjayanthi herself, while the music was by Manoj Vashisht, P Rama and Karthik. Pratiksha Kashi, Hima Vaishnavi, Diksha Shankar, Abhigna, Guru Raju, Neha and Ashwini also joined in these performances.
The third presentation saw a juggling act of Kathak and Odissi. The actors were Nivedita Pandya and Soumya Bose. Nivedita does Kathak and Soumya Odissi. Both started their dance with Kasthuri Tilakam. On the poetic composition “Kasturi Tilakam Lalat Patale Vakshasthale Kaustubhakam” on the bhajani contract of Kaharwa in Raag Madhuvanti, she tried to realize the beauty form of Lord Krishna with dance expressions. In the next performance, Nivedita presented the pure form of Kathak in Raigarh style. He broke some pieces, parnas, thirds in three rhythms, Gave a vigorous presentation of whirling thirds. This performance flourished on the tune of Raga Saraswati. After this Soumya presented Pallavi in Odissi. This performance, given on a rhythm in Raag Hansdhvani, was also energetic. In the next performance, both gave a splendid rendition of Adi Shankaracharya’s Ardhanarishvara. Adorned with raga and taal Malika, the dance composition was by Kelucharan Mohapatra, while the music was by Bhuvaneshwar Mishra. The dance ended with a tarana of Kalavati in three rhythms. Mrinal Nagar on Tabla, Eklavya Mriduli on Mahdal, Smita Bajpai on Sitar, Rameshchandra Das on Violin and Vinod Vihari Panda on vocals accompanied in this performance.
The meeting ended with Odissi dance by Gajendra Kumar Panda of Bhubaneswar and his companions. He started his dance with a calculated presentation. He tried to make Ganesh ji come true. Ektal’s composition in Raag Sohni – “Jai Jai He Jai Jai He Ganayak” she presented a very beautiful dance. The next presentation was of Mann Udaran. On Jagannath ji’s hymn – “Maan Uddharan Kar O Taran”, he presented the Leela of salvation of many devotees of God including Gaj and Draupadi by threading them in emotions. It was a solo performance in Tripta Taal. Jogini Jog Rupa dance composition was presented at the end. Adorned in Raag Taal Malika, this presentation had the story of the dance of Lord Shiva and Devon. These representations of Gajendra Kumar Panda were very much liked.
