CHICAGO: The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago and Utkalaa Dance Academy jointly presented Orissa Dance Academy’s “Gatha Odissi – a journey from the temple to the stage” featuring brilliant performances by artists from the state of Orissa on Saturday, May 18 at the Sama Rathi Auditorium of the temple.
A capacity crowd of more than 300 enjoyed the vibrant dances, specially designed lighting effects and the audio with melodic songs.
The evening began with a prayer by priest Murali Kidambi and was followed with welcome address by Usha Pariti, the Fine Arts chair and Bhima Reddy, the temple’s vice president.
Later, Madhavi Adivi and Ipsita Mahapatra introduced the artists. Ipsita of Utkalaa Dance Academy, Chicago was instrumental in bringing this amazing program to the temple.
The ballet started with Kanch Pallavi, a dance composition by Aruna Mohanty, that depicted the chariot festival of Lord Jagannath (Rath Yatra) in the traditional Odissi style. The next segment was called “Ramayana Navarasa” that presented the seven rasas of the great epic “Ramayan” beginning with Veera rasa (courage) followed by Bhayanaka rasa (fear), Karuna rasa (compassion), Adhbhutha rasa (wonder) Vibhasya rasa (disgust), Rudra rasa (anger) and Shantham (peace and serenity). Language was never a barrier in understanding as the beautiful facial expressions and graceful movements of the artists overcame the problem
The segment after the break was about Lord Krishna called Krishna Saranam, that is Krishna’s message for the world today. Snippets from Mahabharata were presented showing Lord Krishna’s childhood, the narrative of “Kurukshetra ” and the role of Sri Krishna in comforting Arjuna who was depressed at the thought of destruction that the great war was about to bring.
The final segment of the program was called “Swargadapi Gariyasi” combining the well known “Vande Mataram” with other clips, presented in folk music style of Orissa.
Aruna Mohanty choreographed and starred in all the ballets along with her team of talented performers. All through these presentations, the audiences were held spell bound by the artistry of the performers. Madhavi Adivi proposed a vote of thanks. The artists were honored with shawls by temple president Tilak Marwaha.
Raghu Baddi
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