Dancing Without A Leg

The 8-day International Odissi Dance Festival was organized at Bhubneswar from the 23^rd to the 30^th December, 2011. At present, Odissi dance is being performed in 156 countries and this dance-form continues to spread to more countries. About 1000 Odissi dancers from all over India as also from U S A, U K, France, Canada, Russia, Japan, Italy, Australia, Malaysia, Sweden, China, Taiwan, Israel, Bangladesh, Peru and Trinidad performed in the Festival. The largest foreign contingent of about 150 dancers was from Italy. The morning sessions were from 10 AM to 1 PM.; the afternoon sessions were from 4 PM to 6 PM and the evening ones were from 6.30 PM to 10 PM. In between the dance programmes, seminars on different theoretical aspects and nuances of Odissi dance were organized daily from 2 PM to 4 PM. The performers included the 77-year old veteran Dr. Minati Mishra, who has a Ph. D in Odissi dance and who has been conferred with an honourary D. Litt. Degree by Utkal University of Culture.and Guru Nityananda Das, whose dancing career has not been affected by the fact that he has lost a leg in an accident and who now dances with one leg!!!
 

There was a mix of veterans, experts and young and upcoming artists.

On the first day, the 23^rd December, 1110 feet, painted red with alta and with 1110 ghoongurs tied to them, danced in tandem to Odissi music. A record number of 555 dancers from different countries performed together for 28 minutes and 55 seconds from 2.30 PM, at Kalinga Stadium. When it ended, the audience, who had filled the galleries to capacity, gave the artistes a standing ovation and a thunderous applause.

The event has been recorded by the authorities of Guinenss Book of World Records.

I had the good fortune of attending the evening programmes for 5 days. To say the least, it was a heavenly experience. While watching the performances, I felt like having been transported to a completely different world, far away from the mundane world and the daily grind of ordinary living. It felt as if time had stood still when the programmes were going on.

Guru Nityanada Das and Guru Bijay Das danced a number titled ‘Priya Sakha’ which is based on the life of the former. The accompanying song narrates how a devoted dancer loses a leg in an accident and feels crest-fallen by the thought that he can no longer engage in his passion. He appeals to Lord Krishna (Almost all the Odissi songs and dances have the Radha-Krishna love lore as the theme.) to restore his lost leg so that he would be able to resume dancing His lore. Then the dancer falls asleep and Lord Krishna appears before him in dream. The Lord tells the dancer that he need not worry about the lost leg and blesses him that he would be able to continue dancing even with one leg. The dancer wakes up and pleasantly finds that he can indeed dance with one leg! And then he dances away to glory.

The performance was simply superb. When this dance-number ended, the entire audience gave him a standing ovation and the huge hall reverberated with roaring applause. After this, Guru Nityanda Das was again called to the stage. His Guru Bimbadhar Das also was invited to the stage. Nityanda Das was requested to tell how he was inspired by his Guru not to give up after losing a leg. He started speaking about his Guru and after a couple of sentences, he was so overwhelmed with emotion that words failed him. He could speak no longer. Tears rolled down his cheeks. The duo was united in a tight embrace, to another thunderous applause from the audience.

The well-known danseuse Sudha Chandran had lost one leg in an accident. Since dance was her very life, she persisted and is able dance with an artificial leg. The Hindi film Nache Mayuri is based on her life and feat.

Nityanada Das has gone still further. He dances with one leg, without any artificial leg. I had watched on TV a programme wherein both these great exponents had performed, Sudha, with one natural leg and an artificial leg but Nityananda with his single leg. At the end of the programme, Sudha, in reply to a question by the compere, acknowledged that Guru Nityananda’s feat was much higher than her own as he does not use any artificial leg.

The title of the film Nache Mayuri is a romanticisation of Sudha Chandran’s grit and determination but the fact remains that Mayuris (pea-hens) do not dance. It is the male peacock with its long and brilliant-coloured plumage, who dances to attract the attention of its mate. The pea-hen has no plumage. And the original cosmic dancer is Nataraj Shiva, a male. Of course the celestial dancers are Urvashi, Rambha and Menaka, all females.

But I have digressed. 

The International Odissi Dance Festival was a great event.

ADDENDUMLater, I watched on T V, a presentation of Odissi dance titled 'Guru Dakshina' (Guru's fee) by Nityananda Das and others based on his life. In this a look-alike dancer plays the part of Nityanda Das before he lost his leg. Nityananda Das himself presents the second part. The accompanying song vividly narrates how Das was a promising danseur when he met with the accident, how he was crest-fallen and lost hope of ever being able to dance again and how by his Guru's motivation and his determination persistence he regained his dancing ability . It is a really touching dance-presentation.