Venue: India Habitat Centre
Date: 30th April 2015

Debadhara, an organization promoting the classical dance Odissi, organized their annual programme at IHC with a bevy of classical maestros.

On the first evening it was all classical dances:  Ranjana Gauhar performing Odissi, Darshana Jhaveri performing Manipuri and Saroja Vaidyanathan performing Bharatanatyam.

Each artist danced for 30-40 minutes, but in their short time span they held the audience spellbound.

Ranjana Gauhar presented pieces based on Jaidev’s Geet Govind.  Darshana Jhaveri depicted items from Radha Krishna Leela. Her second piece which assayed the Khandita Nayika form of Radha (an upset Radha because of Krishna’s delay in coming to meet her) was most enchanting. Saroja Vaidyanathan preformed an unusual piece based on the story of Shabari and her meeting Ram.  During her performance, all eyes were glued to the stage.  She enacted the various characters – Shabari, Ram and other sages with enormous dexterity.

The musicians accompanying Ranjana Gauhar and Saroja Vaidyanathan were best of the lot and they enormously added to the quality of the performance.

In fact, the noted Carnatic singer Sudha Raghunathan, who accompanied Saroja Vaidyanathan, made her presence felt through excellent vocal support.

Watching maestros perform is always a memorable experience. Given that all the dances were the veteran in the field, we felt most humbled. Most Indians ladies who at this age are used to sacrificing their passion for attending to the grandkids may take a leaf out of the lives of these senior performers.

The programme ended with a long Ganesha Vandana performed by the students of Debdhara.

Ganesh Vandana is a starting invocation and so as a concluding piece, it was a little odd. Nonetheless the performers ranged from toddlers to teenagers.  All of them trying to be serious and somber was a pleasure to behold.