14 January 2024/
BENGALI CLASSICAL AND FOLK – DANCE FESTIVAL 2023
Dr. Joyeeta Bhattacharjee Memorial Gaudiya Dance Workshop was held at Silchar during 26 -29 December, 2023 under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Mahua Mukherjee, former dean, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. Dancers Sayantika Majumdar and Sahali Paul were the collaborators of the Workshop.
President Swarnali Chowdhury, Executive President Shobhan Lal Mehera, Dr. Mahua Mukherjee, Central School (ONGC) Principal Sandeep Sharma, Rumli Bhattacharjee, Babul Hore and other dignitaries graced the function and inaugurated the festival, by lighting 15 lamps.
SEMINAR
Gaudiya Nrityakala Bharti organised the seminar titled ‘The Influence of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Indian Dance’ at Ellora Heritage, Silchar, Assam. Professor Dr. Arjun Chowdhury presented a keynote address elaborating the context of Gaudiya Nritya and discussed the contribution and research work undertaken by renowned scholar and dancer Dr. Mahua Mukherjee. Many eminent personalities including Dr. Mahua Mukherjee delivered lectures in the seminar.
WORKSHOP
High on creativity, students actively participated in the 4-day workshop and presented Guru Vandana, Prakriti Vandana, Chandi Stuti and dances on Charyapad. A group of child artists performed Shiva Stotra and respected their Guru Dr. Mahua Mukherjee, keeping flowers at the guru’s feet.
Young and talented artists of the organisation presented Gauduya Nritya – Hari Namavali, an exquisite musical extravaganza of vocal by Rathindra Chakraborty; Taal, Bol and dance directed by Satyajit Bose Joy in collaboration with Tathagata Das and Poonam Dhar.
All the students were honoured with the Shyamal Roy Memorial Workshop Certificates in the festival.
FOLK DANCE PROGRAMMES
Various folk dances including Baul dance, Gajan dance, Shari dance, Bhatiali tune boat dance, Raibeshe dance and Ojha Dance of Barak Valley were well-choreographed by Satyajit Bose Joy accompanied by Poonam Dhar. Gaudiya Nrityakala Bharati presented Dasa Mahavidya, directed by Sanjay Acharya.
Vanshita Kala Niketan, partner organisation also presented programmes in the festival.
Manimala Nritya Shiksha Kendra presented ‘Bharatbhagya Vidhata’, a short dance drama directed by Tathagata Das highlighting Bengal’s independence struggle. Children’s drama – ‘Hingser Sathe Aari’ based on Sukmar Roy’s Hingsute Daitya, written and directed by Satyajit Bose Joy received a lot of applause from all.
In the concluding session, dance drama – ‘The Evolution of Time’ written and directed by Satyajit Bose Joy, co-starring Poonam Dhar, Ankita Vardhan, Shipra Biswas was highly appreciated as the drama depicted human evolutions starting from the ‘Hunting stage of the primitive age including discovery of fire, implements, languages, and now the trauma unleashed by the new generation gadgets like mobiles, etc. The dance drama was beautifully edited by Manishita Das Kanang; Stage decoration: Dipankar Saha and Chumki Dev Nath; Dress: Sushmita Chakraborty and Saptam Pal; Commentary – Sandeep Dutta, Rajshree Roy Chowdhury; Sound Acceptance – Abhijit Dey, Vynas Rupshikha Sur; Light- Rupraj Dev.
The choreography and performance of the artists have won everyone’s hearts. Vikram Sarkar was the moderator of the program.
Shri. Satyajit Bose and other members of the organisation, honoured Dr. Mahua Mukherjee, the exponent and pioneer researcher who has revived the Indian Classical Dance form Gaudiya Nritya, by presenting various gifts and awards in the festival. Dr. Mahua Mukherjee presented a splendid performance of Gaudiya Nritya, as requested by the audience. She congratulated all the artists.Dancers Sayantika Majumdar and Sahali Paul were also felicitated in the Festival.
