14-hr non-stop performance to pay tribute to Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra

Mumbai/Bhubaneswar: On the 14th death anniversary of the doyen of Odissi, Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, several of his students paid tribute through performances in Odisha and the rest of India, yesterday.

In Mumbai, Kelu Babu’s (as he was fondly called) senior disciple Jhelum Paranjape created a record of sorts as she along with other artistes danced for 14 hours from morning seven till nine in the night.

“We had to postpone our annual tribute to Guruji due to some unavoidable circumstances. However, I wanted to do something on his death anniversary and since it was his 14th, I decided to invite dancers of all classical and modern forms to perform for 14 hours at my dance school, Smitalaya, as Guruji’s love for dance transcended all barriers,” she said.

Besides Odissi, dancers performed Mohiniattam, Bharatnatyam, Kathak and Latin American dance as a tribute to the legendary guru.

By late afternoon, around 40 dancers had already performed. “Had Guruji been alive, it would have been his 92nd birthday and I was wishing that many dancers to turn up on the occasion,” she said.

And as fate would have it, altogether 106 people attended the event and 14 among them had just come to see the performances and pay their tribute. “We had 92 performers at the end of the event, much to my delight,” she added.

Rabindra Mandap in Odisha capital too saw senior disciples performing on some of his lesser-known compositions during the programme ‘Remembering Guruji’, organised by Art Vision in collaboration with GKCM Odissi Research Centre.

The audience was in for a treat as students of Odissi Research Centre presented a 1959 composition, after a solo recital by Pranati Mohanty. Eminent dancers Meera Das, Illeana Citaristi and Sikata Das left the audience spellbound with their Abhinaya.