PARAMPARA: Legacy of Odissi Legend Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra featuring disciples Guru Ratikant Mohapatra & Rajashri Praharaj
3rd Dec 2010 - Performance: PARAMPARA - Shantanand Auditorium
4th - 9th Dec 2010 - Workshop: Parampara - Kanagasabai Studio
Odissi performance on 3rd December: PARAMPARA
by Guru Ratikant Mohapatra and Rajashri Praharaj
Mangalacharanam - Shiva Stuthi
Charukeshi Pallavi
Ram Bhajan
Ardhanariswara
Chudamani Pradhan
Odissi workshop 4th - 9th December: PARAMPARA - The Art of a Legend
with Guru Ratikant Mohapatra and Rajashri Praharaj
At this workshop, discover the beauty and subtlety of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra's style of Odissi with his son and foremost disciple Guru Ratikant Mohapatra. Explore the artistry of the great legend as you learn a dance from world renowned dancer choreographer Ratikantji as you immerse yourself in the inspiring world of Odissi brought to you direct from India.
Guru Ratikant Mohapatra
In the universe of Indian classical dance & music Ratikant has carved for himself an enviable niche as a dancer, percussionist, teacher & archivist. In the last 25 years, together with his father Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, he has been able to establish a firm imprint of Odissi in the consciousness of audiences in many countries abroad and dozens of venues in this nation.
Drawing on a vast reservoir of creative talent found abundantly in father Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra & mother Laxmipriya, the young Ratikant demonstrated a precocity far beyond his youthful age. More in love with percussion than the schoolbook, Ratikant rapidly evolved into a masterful player of the Odissi ‘Mardala’ and a leading male dancer to adorn the stage by the age of 16.
The Times of India newspaper described him as the “young Kelucharan”. Barely in his twenties, he collected a string of accolades for his dual skills, demonstrating them with a typical ease and flair in numerous stage performances, and workshops in India & abroad. He rendered enthusiastic & invaluable support to Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra in organizing, performing and assisting Guruji in the 1980’s when the doyen of classical Odissi traveled abroad frequently to establish a global presence for the dance that represents, today, the acme of Oriya cultural heritage, & its dynamic evolution.
The stamp of the Kelucharan Gharana is evident in Ratikant’s soft & hypnotic style of playing the Mardala – the priceless inheritance from Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra himself, acquired by the second-generation exponent through hard & unstinted labour-from childhood.
As the Director of SRJAN [Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Nrityabasa], he has single–handedly created a world-class dance institute, which attracts students from all over the globe for extended periods of learning Odissi dance. In this, he has tirelessly emulated Guruji himself who devoted his entire life & energies into grooming dancers of the caliber of Sanjukta Panigrahi, Sonal Mansingh, Madhavi Mudgal and many others. Added to this, Ratikant organises regular summer workshops for senior students & beginners to help them to absorb the highly subtle & nuanced dance that has been fashioned by the Guru Kelucharan Gharana in Odissi.
An additional accomplishment by Ratikant is in his role as a choreographer, and that too, a highly applauded one. He has already choreographed more than 30 new Odissi items , all of them having received enthusiastic response and accolades for innovation, quality music and fluency. They are “Jatayu Mokshya”, “Allah”, “Tarana Pallavi”, “Suna Manna, “Bhaja Govindam”, “Om”, “Gita Govinda”, “Charukeshi Pallavi (in the 9-beat Adda tala)”, “Mrutyu”, to mention only a few. Ratikant modestly dedicates all this to his father and Guruji and ascribes this excellence to long years of observing Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra choreograph new pieces and tirelessly work them until the last little detail is perfected. Ratikant’s perfectionism and his uncompromising attention to the minutest detail mirrors his departed Guruji’s sense of style & sensitivity to the ambience created by the dance, the music, and the dancer - an inheritance well received and equally well looked after.
His accomplishments has been acknowledged by a number of awards including “Pride of India 2004”, “Sanjukta Panigrahi Samman 2005”, “Nrutya Bhushan” by International Dance & Theatre Festival 2005 and “Nritya Shiromani” by Utkal Yuva Sanskrutik Sangh at Cuttack, 2010.
Ratikant’s versatility and creative energy have found recent expression in celluloid too. He has choreographed Odissi dance sequences for an Indo–Chinese film “The Desire” and has guided the performance of noted film stars Jayaprada and Shilpa Shetty in it. The sequences have been set to classical Odissi music. This is the very first instance of a Bollywood film featuring classical Odissi dance.
Rajashri Praharaj
Rajashri Praharaj is an accomplished artiste of the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra gharana of Odissi. She has been dancing since an early age. Her formal training in Srjan (Odissi Nrityabasa) as a resident student under the able tutelage of her Guru Shri Ratikant Mohapatra, helped her to master the art and technique of Odissi dance. Rajashri has imbibed within herself the essence of this style with purity and perfection. Her dance has the excellent blend of sensuous movement and graceful footwork with absolute control of laya.
She has performed widely as a soloist in India, and internationally at Bangkok, Malaysia and USA. She has also traveled with the repertory group of Srjan and attended the Master’s course in Summer Workshop 2002 and 2003 conducted by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. A versatile dancer with immense potential, Rajashri charms the audience with immaculate grace and an attractive stage presence.
She has participated in Kal-ke-Kalakar of Sur Singar Samsad, Mumbai and won the “Sringaramani” title. In the year 2004, the Ministry of Culture, Govt.of India, has awarded her the National scholarship in Odissi dance. For the Deepavali Festival 2007 she was honoured by an invitation to perform at Vedic Heritage, New York by Her Holiness Guruma Smt. Jyotishanand Saraswati in Pt. Jasraj Auditorium. She has been awarded “Nalanda Nrutya Nipuna 2008” for her outstanding performance in Odissi dance at Mumbai Festival in 2007.
Rajasri’s performance in Odissi Dance Festival, organized by Orissa Sangeet Natak Academy - the New Indian Express in one of its reviews writes that – Rajashri’s technical perfection combined with feminine grace gave glimpses of her bright future as a promising dancer with distinct signature of the Kelucharan ‘Gharana’.
Apart from performing, Rajashri is also involved in teaching Odissi. Although totally dedicated to dance, Rajashri has also obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from Utkal University of Culture, Orissa.
More info at The Temple of Fine Arts Kuala Lumpur. 603-22743709.
