The Nistarini Kali Temple Dance Concert was presented by the Gaudiya Nritya Bharati in collaboration with its sister-concern, Gaud Banga Dance Concert Academy. The venue of the two-day festival was the Satyajit Ray Auditorium in the Indian Council of Cultural Relations. The guests of honour were Rabiranjan Chattopadhyay, minister in-charge, government of West Bengal, Manabendu Bandopadhayay, general secretary of the Asiatic Society and Minaksi Mishra, director, ICCR, Kolkata. Two films on “Dance of the gods”, and “Trance in Motion” were shown at the outset on each day and the festival itself was organised with financial assistance from the union ministry of culture.

This reviewer has been witness to the “dance form of Bengal” from the time it was a mere fledgling. I reiterate that evidence of dance poses found in the Ananta Vasudeva temple in Hooghly cannot be taken as evidence of gaudiya nritya being the source of the other dance forms of India, because recorded history states, although there were human settlements in Bengal from pre-historic times, there is no archeological evidence to show the existence of any kind of dance form. The identity of the form cannot be established with just wielding a yak-tail-whisk used in temples for worship or arti and carrying a flower basket and dancing on a well decorated burnt earthen pot. To quote dance scholar Utpal Banerjee, “It (gaudiya nritya) will need to look significantly different from other dance forms of India.”

But the question of gaudiya nritya, which has been supposedly found by Mohua Mukhopadhyay as a result of her sustained research, tells a different story. Her claim that it is “the mother of all the classical dance forms of India” must be scrutinised by scholars and historians. However, the good news is that thanks to Mukhopadhyay&’s untiring efforts, the form has been revived and granted the status of classical dance by the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

Some of the dance pieces presented in the style included lalita ananda tandava by Ayan Mukherjee performed to the sloka jata bhujanga in Sanskrit, two nritta pradhan dances, followed by saraswati nibedan describing Goddess Saraswati&’s beauty— tanu sushama sundari heri ki rup madhuri- in the Jhumur genre of Bengal, which is a folk song of unorthodox character. The dancers gyrated to viswarupa mahasweta while sachitanaya astakam was about ujjala barana. Radhabhavadyutibalitam was a vipralambha Shringar of goddess Radha in gaudiya nritya style. The dance piece was directed by Banani Chakraborty, Mohua Mukherjee&’s sister, who was ably assisted by Satabdi Acharya. 

This choreographic work used the immortal lyrics of Rabindranath Tagore like sakhi oi bujhi bansi baje, majhe majhe taba dekha pai, je chilo amar sapano charini among others to show the different aspects and moods of Radha&’s love for Krishna. Not only did the piece lack artistic quality, the myriad hued garish costumes rendered the whole exercise a disservice. Elements of all known dance forms creeped into the piece, which failed to evoke an atmosphere of sublime and transcendental love. It was a jarring contrast to the refined and sensitive lyrics that the Bard penned.

Kathak dancer Paramita Moitra was given the platform to showcase some of the techniques, she has mastered from her guru Birju Maharaj. Her recital commenced with the invocation of Krishna and ended with the rendition of Kathak movements through a moving a Sufi song in praise of Allah— dard suno mera alla.

Bharatanatyam guru Abhoy Pal&’s students Milan Adhikary and Souraja Tagore performed great saint Vaggeyakara Muthuswamy Dikshitar&’s ardhanariswara in raga kumudakriya and rupaka talam. Description of the song aradhay –ami satatam atri vrgu vasishta muni brinda vanditam, rendered through the polished vocabulary of bharatanatyam was brilliantly performed as both dancers were in the best of form. The concluding dance was a fast-paced tillana in raga shurutti and talam adi.

Odissi Vision Movement&’s repertory group performed Shiv Parvati Sabda, which is a batu nritya and comes under the sthayi nata section, interspersed with Shiv and Parvati Sabdas. They are a set of well tuned dancers taught meticulously by their mentor Sharmila Biswas. Their repertory trainee members performed a dance which highlighted the encounter between Sambalpuri folk dance and classical Odissi.

Budhi Edirisinghe, a student of the Chitrasena School of dance, presently pursuing his Masters at Rabindra Bharati University, performed kandyan highlighting the culture of Sri Lanka. Kalamandalam Gautam, recipient of several awards, performed putana moksham- the liberation of putana by the hands of Krishna. The dance was full of high-drama in the typical kathakali style.

Buddha charit of Aswa Ghosha, christened “A Journey to Knowledge and Peace” was performed solo by Mohua Mukhopadhay; the music was by Ayan Mukherjee and Subhadeep Chakraborty.