DD Bangla, RBU flag off dance festival; felicitate dance gurus

A two day dance festival — Mudra 2015 — celebrating 40 years of DD Bangla was flagged off with aplomb at Jorasanko Thakurbari on Sunday evening. 

Inaugurated by the Prasar Bharati CEO, Jawhar Sircar, the occasion saw senior dance gurus like Rani Karnaa, Thankamany Kutty, Alokananda Roy, K Jatindra Singh  and Prof Amita Dutta getting felicitated for their lifetime contribution to the creative world of the dance. DD Bangla and Rabindra Bharati University did the honours.

“There could not be a better setting for dance festival in Kolkata than the Takurdalan at Jorasanko. This is where Rabindranth Tagore used to stage his own dance dramas,” Sircar told Millennium Post. 

The two day event is being jointly organised by the Rabindra Bharati University’s West Bengal Akademi of Dance Drama Music and Visual Arts along with DD Bangla. Sircar further said that the dance festival will be recorded and telecast by all Doordarshan Kendras. 

The evening saw dance performances by the university students and subsequently by eminent dance exponent Sutapa Talukdar(Odissi) and Priti Patel(Manipuri). “This is a new platform for different dance forms of India. We hope it will be a regular feature from now on,” said Rajat Bose, Deputy DG, Doordarshan Kendra Kolkata. The Prasar Bharati CEO was also encouraging. “Other centres keep hosting such festivals. Kolkata has done it sporadically. We hope this one will be a regular feature from now on,” said Sircar.

Prof Sabyasachi Basu Roychoudhury, Vice Chancellor, RBU was the guest of Honour on the occasion. 

On the second day, the festival will see performances by students of RBU, Kathakali recital by Kalamandalam Venkit, performances by Bharatnatyam exponent Anita Mullick and Mohiniattam by Pallavi Krishnan. Students will present Bharatnatyam, Odissi and kathak dance forms on Monday.