The lamp column was installed, illuminating the art and culture among the beautiful flowers. Bhadrapada got wet and a little humid and amidst all this, the Mahajutan of art lovers was being held in the Stein Auditorium of India Habitat Center. In the auditorium, the audience sat in their respective places, the light turned into darkness and in the same time, the blue light started spreading on the stage. This sequence of spreading intensified with the surface waves and an ancient mythological story began to shape on the stage with a beautiful verse of Odissi dance.
Story dance performance included in Mahabharata
Under the guidance and direction of eminent dancer and Guru Ranjana Gauhar, his disciples took the initiative to alive another penetration living within the Mahabharata on the stage. With the expressions of Odissi dance, it had become a emotional story and beautiful. The story of Nal-Damayanti has not been very popular, but his name should not be taken in mythological love stories, it has never happened. People know his name, but knows the story or not, cannot tell.
Yudhishthira, who is cutting exile, narrated the story by the sage
In the forest festival of Mahabharata, Maharaj Yudhishthira used to satsang sages. One day, the sage of a huge sage came on his hut. The king asked him- would there be any misfortune like me, who wanders with his wife due to his own deeds. Then the sage said- Rajan! Do not mourn I tell you the story of one such king. Only after this the story of Nal-Damayanti comes out.
Guru Ranjana Gauhar’s disciples performed beautiful
The disciple-disciple of Guru Ranjana Gauhar makes this story alive on stage through his dance. King Nal was walking in his garden. So he saw a group of golden swans dancing among flowers in his garden. The king wondered and caught one of them. Then the goose prayed to the king and said- O Raja, leave me. I will go to Vidarbha from here and the princess there will praise you with Damayanti, just as you are a brave in the heroes, so Damayanti is like Lakshmi on earth.
Showing this conversation of Hans, his character was coined through Odissi and Chhau dance. Wearing a dhoti, the dancers wearing a bound foot and head to the arm were giving the same aura like a swan. In the direction of the voice of the rhythm, he was shaking his head according to his sentiments, rotating the neck and making hand currencies, giving them a really swan image.
Presentation enhanced using audio-visual and animation
Audio-visual contributed significantly to this presentation, in many scenes it was used for backgrounds or main settings and characters. On this beautiful experiment of technology, Guru Ranjana says that “When I was considering the idea of using this story, we have tried to make the rigid boundaries of classical dance easier for the common community. So that they can be easily explained that a long 2 -hour classical dance or group song is not happening on the stage. Rather it is also telling a story with dance sense.
Foot beat, hand postures, beautiful use of eyes of the eyes are not just dances, but are feelings of story. Those who have juice, love, compassion, adornment, enmity and anger too. The dancers create these expressions and bring the story to the audience.
Ranjana Gauhar believes that the classical dance tradition can be developed in this way and the common people will have to be made worth aware of it. This is the reason why we cannot perform the same art again and again, but to make ourselves relevant, we make it convertible with traditional.
Style, costume and choreography
Dance costumes and choreography are traditional. Now animation is being used internationally with every genre. In the dance, the palace garden was shown through multimedia, which had fountains which were possible only with technology. The lonely king is walking in the lawn when a group of swans comes. Hans were depicted with slow, beautiful but energetic movements in Chhau dance. Costumes with white wings were very beautiful for swans. The tap befriends a male swan, both dance together and the tap asks him to stop. But Hans decides to live with his spouse, which he loves.
He then promises a suggestion of beautiful spouse for the tap. Similarly, a very part of the story was depicted on the stage and the elements of the background were shown with audio-visual techniques through animation.
The marriage of Nal and Damayanti, their love etc. were carved very beautifully. The couple dance of his love has become beautiful. Then comes the chance of the game of dice. Nal invites his cousin for Pushkar Chaucer. King Nal loses his kingdom in this game. Now both the couples are cutting exile with the grief of the forest. Both are separated in the forest and they are separated. Damayanti somehow reaches her father and King Nal gets engaged in the service of another king.
Seeing the concern of his daughter, the king again organizes swayamvara. Once Hans come in the role of messenger. He gives all the information to the tap and then the two lovers meet again with the efforts of the tap. The Milan song in the final scene and a beautiful combination of dance has the ability to reach this story to Unwan. With this dance, Nal-Damayanti again starts living a pleasant life.
Organized in memory of famous Guru Mayadhar Raut
The Odissi dance was performed by Guru Ranjana Gauhar in this special event held at the Stein Auditorium of India Habitat Center. The Utsav Educational and Cultural Society was celebrating the 20th anniversary of its famous cultural festival ‘Saare Jahan Se Achhe Se Achhe, during which the presentation was displayed to the audience. This stage has become a prestigious platform for giant artists and emerging stars. This time was organized in memory of the famous Guru Mayadhar Raut.
His guidance gave direction to the art journey of Guru Ranjana Gauhar. Guru Ranjana Gauhar said, “Sare Jahan Se Achhe I started to honor our freedom through classical dance. After 20 years, I am thankful to all those artists, gurus, disciples and spectators who supported us in this journey. This festival is not just a platform, but a living symbol of our cultural holders and traditions.”
Representative Guru honored on stage
During this, Guru Geeta Mahalik (Padma Shri and SNA Award winners, Odissi), Guru Geeta Chandran (Padma Shri and SNA Award winners, Bharatanatyam) and Prof. Ashish Mohan Khokhar (dance historian, writer and critic) was also awarded the Utsav Samman – Lifetime Achievement Award.
The festival is not only committed to keeping Indian classical dance alive, but is also traditionally moving on its resolve to settle it in the hearts of new generations. Guru Ranjana Gauhar’s Utsav Society remains an example in cultural protection, artistic innovation and encouraging young talents.
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