Rasasvada is a classical dance festival that will have renowned dancers from across the country performing in the city. Madulita Mohapatra, the curator of this festival, says, “Even though there are so many classical dance festivals being conducted, there is still the need to promote it and provide a platform for good talent.”
The word Rasavada in Sanskrit literally means to “experience the aesthetic glimpse of the art.” She goes on to add, “The main purpose of any dance or art form is to evoke rasa which is the aesthetic experience. So any dancer has to evoke rasa in the audience.” This festival will have an array of art forms.
Talking more about the festival Madulita adds, “The art form that one can see in this festival ranges from Kathak to Bharatanayam, Odissi and Kuchipudi. Today, we will showcase a solo performance followed by group performances on the second day.” The festival will see an array of dancers from around the country performing. Some of the people performing are Prateeksha Kashi, Swapnokalpa Gasgupta, Rukmini Vijayakumar, Shweta Venkatesh. Rasavada has always had housefull shows in the past. Madhulita says that this encourages her to come back again and again with such events.
On day two, which is solely dedicated to groups, the Chithkala School of Dance is one of the groups that will be performing. The director and a Bharatanatayam dancer Praveen Kumar adds, “For me every person has a different character. We will be doing two compositions one of Lord Shiva who is known to be very serious and calm and the other is of Lord Krishna who is known to be very playful. Like humans have different shades, gods to have different shades. In Shiva’s composition, there will be a lot of heavy dancing with a lot of foot work, whereas Krishna’s composition is more playful.” Talking more about his take on the classical dance scene in the city he says, “The dance scene is very vibrant and happening with a lot of people opting to learn classical dance. I feel classical dance is a good foundation to use to do any kind of dancing.”
Shweta Venkatesh Nrityantar dance and Swapnokalpa Dasgupta
Swanpokalpa Dasgupta is a noted Odissi dancer from Mumbai. Talking about her performance she adds, “My performance is about two very different characters from the Mahabharata. One will be Radha and the other one is on warrior princess Chitrangada who was married to Arjun. My piece that I will be presenting is based on the works of Rabindranath Tagore who made an interesting twist to the story. Both of these ladies are two very different people one who is lost in love and the other who finds herself in love.” Kuchipudi orginates from the state of Andhra Pradesh.
Prateesksha Kashi has been learning this art form from the age of five from her mother who is also her guru. “I will be doing one or two rare traditional pieces. This dance form is known for Premashadharu where the characters enter and introduces themselves. Satyabhama is known to be the heroine of Kuchipudi. I will be performing a piece where she is waiting for a good omen that will assure her that her beloved will return and also waiting for the rains to come,” she adds
