PAPER 6 DANCE IN INDIA TODAY, DANCE-DRAMAS, CREATIVITY WITHIN THE CLASSICAL FORMS, INDIAN CLASSICAL DANCE IN DIASPORA (USA, UK, EUROPE, AUSTRALIA, ETC.) MODULE 11 DANCE DRAMAS IN ODISSI All performing arts evolved together simultaneously. Dance & drama are no exception. As they are complementary to each other, they are clubbed together to receive the maximum advantage. Incidentally Bharat’s Natya Shastra is on Drama with chapters on Tandava Laxana / त 車डव ऱऺण encompassing Dance Elements. Initially there were dance sequences in the drama & dialogues (Bachika Abhinaya / व चिक अभिनय) predominant the dance presentations. Accordingly, they were called Nataka / न टक, Jatra / ज त्र & Geeti-Natya / गीतत- न 絍य etc. Latter on dance, drama & music were practised individually to improve their potentials. But they were put together frequently to get the best audio- visual result. They are named Dance Theatre if they are dominated by dialogues& other features of Drama and Dance dramas if dominated by dance. But the elements of dance & drama merged in requisite proportions to create the right ambience named Dance Dramas. In the Time of Prataprudra Deva Maharis / प्रत ऩ셂द्र देव मह रर also began to take part in sacred dance dramas. (Page 122 – “The Dance 1 Orissi” by Mohan Khokar & Ashish Khokar) The first Dance drama could be credited to Jagannath Ballav Nataka / जगन्न थ ब쥍ऱव न टक directed and scripted by Ray Ramananda Pattanayak the illustrious minister of King Prataprudra Deva. It was written in Sanskrit revolving around the love play of Radha Krishna. As he took the services of Devadasis for the performance, it is natural a fair amount of dance movements must have been incorporated. It was very short & mainly based on Bhakti rasa. The union of Radha Krishna was portrayed in four lines with Bhanita in the Fifth scene. These lines were the dialogues of Madanika. Then for entertainment, professional Theatre Parties came in to existence who tried constantly to incorporate new elements, and better their productions with unique light, sets etc. for the rasikas. In the early Forties they had tough competition with the cinema. They engaged female artistes, Dance teachers, Dancers in their productions. Dance was introduced before the beginning of each play, also where it will be suitable in the middle of the drama. Guru Pankaj Charan Das / गु셁 ऩ車कज िरण द स introduced a short dance sequence before each Play. In 1945 at Annapurna B group a mini dance drama Bhasmasura / िस्म सुर was presented before the Play Devi. Kelucharan Mohapatra / के ऱुिरण मह ऩ त्र played Shiva, Laxmipriya Mohapatra / ऱक्ष्मीप्रप्रय मोह ऩ त्र – Mohini & Mayadhar Rout / म य धर र उत – Vishnu- Narayana. Pankaj Charan choreographed it & also played the role of Vasmasura. This could be credited as the foundation of modern dance drama. 2 Modern Dance dramas in Odisha were inspired by Prahalad Natak / प्रह्ऱ द न टक , Rasa Leelas / र स ऱीऱ , Bharat Leela / ि रत ऱीऱ , Suanga / स㄂ग, Mogul Tamasa / मुग़ऱ तम श , Geeti Natya / गीतत न 絍य, Sahi Jatra / स ही ज त्र , Danda Nata / ड車ड न ट & Jatra / ज त्र . Baishnaba Pani / बैशन ब ऩ नी brought revolution in Jatra with his numerous Geeti Natyas. Mohan Sunder Deva Goswami made Rasa Leela an attractive entertainment. The dance gurus greatly influenced by these two dance theatres- Rasa Leela & Geeti Natya shaped the dance dramas. Their brief stints at theatre parties helped them to portray the drama element adequately with Dances. After the independence all most all the girls’ schools & colleges, (though few in numbers then) included dance & music in their extracurricular activities & give much importance to them. The parents of higher-middle class families took great interest in nurturing art & culture & encouraged their children to perform on stage. The theatre companies were established & have dance repertoire. Moreover, dance teachers tried to pursue this career to add to their earning. Though Odissi was not yet recognised and in a rudimentary stage the dance teachers taught Manipuri, Kathak, Creative and Folk along with Odissi. The name Odissi was later given by Kabichandra Kalicharan Pattanayak / कबबि車द्र क ऱीिरण ऩट्टन यक. Odissi dance grew as a classical form. All the scholars like Mohan Khokar, Jeevan Pani, Charles Fabri, Dhiren Pattanayak, Gurus – Pankaj Charan Das, Kelucharan Mohapatra, Deba Prasad Das, Dayanidhi Das, Mayadhar Rout, Mahadeva Rout, Raghunath Dutta 3 and Bata Krushna Sena, along with Gotipua Gurus & Maharis under the leadership of Kabichandra Kalicharan Pattanayak contributed to reconstruct today’s Odissi. There was a cultural renaissance in Odisha. All most all the associations, organisations & influential persons took it as their task to uplift the cultural scene encouraging dancers and dance teachers to give the best of their creativity. There was a diligent attempt to present Odissi to the people outside Odisha and to give Odissi Dance the recognition of classical Status. Several dance, music & drama institutions were established. All the dance lovers who wanted that Odissi Dance should be recognised as a classical dance, formed an association – Jayantika / जय車ततक (earlier named as Nikhil Utkal Nrutya Shilpi Sangha) where they chalked out the style, repertoire, costume etc. in the year 1957. Some of them also vowed with their blood in front of Cuttack Chandi / ि車डी – that they will adhere to one uniform style. The leading Oriya Daily carried a column “Rupa Rasa Chhanda” on culture. Priyambada Mohanty, Dhiren Pattanayak & Sushama Tej performed at Youth Festival & received recognition. The dance came to the notice of Hungarian Dance Critic Mr Charles Fabri. He was a critic of the Statesman then. Finally, Odissi was recognised as a classical dance in 1961. But before that much care was taken to propagate Odissi dance in the form of dance dramas as well as an independent presentation. Dance Dramas were presented frequently involving many choreographers, dancers with extravagant sets & lights. 4 There were several organisations particularly in Cuttack produced dance dramas. Kumara Utsava Samiti, Raja Utsav, BhanjaJayanti, Bishuba Milana etc. presented dance dramas regularly. Sanjukta Panigrahi, Kumkum Mohanty, Sadhana Bose, Krishnapriya Nanda, Sushama Tej, Ashima Panda (Mishra), Rita Biswala (Mishra), Sudipta (Tikili), Nandita Mohanty (Chhabi), Pushpa Banerjee, Urvashi Joshi, Kukumina Mohantyetc took part as dancers. Govinda Tej directed & choreographed many of the dance dramas. Script was written by Surendra Mohanty, Narayana Pratap Singh & Kabichandra Kalicharan Pattanayak. There were many dance choreographers – Kelucharan Mohapatra, Mayadhar Rout, Raghunath Dutta, Batakrushna Sena, Dayanidhi Das, Pankaj Charan Das etc. All of them were engaged in choreographing Dance dramas for different organisations, schools & colleges. Dance Schools Nrutyana, Smruti Kala Mandapa, National Music Association & Kala Vikash Kendra ushered the way to present many modern dance dramas, sometimes clubbing Odissi with Kathak, Kathakali, Chhau & other dance forms. Much attention was then given to stage craft, sets, props & light. Madhu Dutta was the best light man at that time and Srakar brothers were in charge of makeup. Radhanath Training College, Cuttack along with its sister organisations - Training School & Practising Girls School presented at least one dance drama in a year. Dharani Kanya & Buddha were great success in early sixties. Music by Sunakara Sahoo, Dance choreography by Guru Raghunath Dutta and script was written by Gobardhan Pattanayak. Ashima Panda (Mishra), Debjani Sahoo were in the lead roles. Practising Girls school, Ravenshaw Girls School, Buckley Girls School, Sailabala Women’s College also presented many 5 dance dramas as their annual event. Other organisations who volunteered to present dance drams in Cuttack were Jatiya Granthagar, National Sporting Club and many others. Shirama Chandra Bhanja Medical College Cuttack also presented Grand Dance Dramas for celebrating different occasions like medical conferences. The then station director of All India Radio Cuttack P.V. Krishnamurthy also took great interest and took all sorts of initiative to present high class dance dramas under the auspices of All India Radio Cuttack, which was established on 28.01.1948. Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra choreographed Mahanadi, Chandrika and Konark Jagarana in 1958, Anadi Sangeeta in 1959 for All India Radio Cuttack. Utkal Sangeet Samaj is considered to be the oldest institution established in 1933 headed by Shinghari Shyam Sundarkar, who was an institution himself. National Music Association is considered to be the oldest institution dedicated to promote Music, Dance & Drama was established in 1943*. Adinarayana Kundala, Sunanda Pattanayak, were in music section. Mahadeva Rout, Debaprasad Das, Buddhadeva Bhattacharya (Kathak), Chinmoya Lahiri (Kathak) were engaged in teaching. Kala Vikash Kendra founded by Babulal Joshi was another leading organisation established in 1952.Mayadhar Rout, Kelucharan Mohapatra, Raghunath Dutta, Balakrushna Das, Raghunath Nanda, were the teaching faculty. 6 Batakrushna Sena taught at Smruti Kala Mandapa & Dayanidhi Das at Nrutyana. All this institutions & Gurus were engaged in presenting Dance Dramas. In 1954, Manini was choreographed by Guru Debaprasad Das, credited as the first Odissi Dance Drama. Where he played Krishna & Sushama Tej performed Radha. In 1957 the dance drama Maniniwas / मणणतनव स presented at Delhi (page 252The Dance Orissi). This was a production of National Music Association. Kabichandra