21 May 2024/
MITRAYAN PRESENTS KAVI PRANAM – DANCE BALLET – ‘RAMYA VEENA’ & LECTURE DEMONSTRATION AT KOLKATA
MITRAYAN, Institute of Dance and Research, dedicated to preserving and promoting Bengal’s rich cultural heritage presented a dance ballet – ‘Ramya Veena’ and lecture demonstration on 11 May2024.
To celebrate 163rd birth ceremony of Kaviguru Rabindranath Tagore and 125th birth ceremony of Kazi Nazrul Islam, the students of Mitrayan performed ‘Ramya Veena-dance ballet’ on the first session which was choreographed by them under the supervision of Smt. Banani Chakraborty, the dance director of Mitrayan and the second session was dedicated towards a lecture demonstration by Prof. Mahua Mukherjee on ‘Dance and Tagore’ accompanied by renowned artist Amitava Mukherjee and talented dancer Anindita Chakraborty, student of Mitrayan.
The ‘Ramya Veena -dance ballet’ transported audiences on a mesmerising journey through the forms of music. Artists brought the story of the journey of music from its creation to universal peace with their artistry, leaving audiences enthralled.
‘RAMYA VEENA -DANCE BALLET’
ARTISTS
NABANITA / TRISHA / SREEMOYEE / JINIA / NIKITA / SAMPURNA / APURBA / RIYA / SOUROJA / SANGITA / ARPITA / SREYA
The dance ballet, ‘Ramya Veena’ began with the concept of the Nada which is the purest ‘unmanifested cosmic sound’, where ‘na’ stands for prana or life, ‘da’ stands for Agni or heat energy.
“It signifies the cosmic sound energy which comes from Brahma. Om the primordial sound of creation, is the first nada. It is the first vibration of the universe from which all other vibrations were able to manifest. The recital started with Ramya Veena song created by Kavi Nazrul Islam in prayers of Ma Saraswati, followed by the celebration of sound of rain through ‘Rim jhim jim jhim jhim’ song, sound of Cuckoo through ‘Kuhu kuhu Koyalia’, then the recital moved towards celebration of Bengal’s musical instruments ‘Anaddha’ (leather instruments/Percussion instruments) through ‘Hridoy Mondrilo’ song by Rabindranath Tagore, followed by celebration of ‘Ghana’ (metal instruments) , ‘Sushi’ (wind instruments) , ‘Tat’ (string instruments),” Smt. Banani Chakraborty, the dance director of Mitrayan explains the details of the dance ballet, ‘Ramya Veena’. The recital ended with ‘Om shanti’ which depicts the peace of body, speech and mind.
LECTURE DEMONSTRATION
Prof. Mahua Mukherjee, former Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts and Director, Centre for Studies in Dance Form of Bengal, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata presented a lecture on ‘Dance and Tagore’ accompanied by Mr. Amitava Mukherjee on vocals and Anindita Chakraborty, Senior National Scholarship awardee on Gaudiya Nritya and student of Mitrayan for demonstration.
Prof. Mahua Mukherjee briefed on Rabindranath Tagore’s concept of vibration from the movement of a leaf, he was the pioneer to conceptualize ‘Dance Drama’, he brought the concept of University which cultivated education and art together under one umbrella.
“Rabindranath Tagore not only built ‘Viswa Bharati’ but also influenced nation-wide, and on his inspiration, Kerala Kalamandalam came into existence. He helped women to get out and learn dance in the colonial era when dance was only thought to be performed by ‘Baiji’. He learned different dance forms world-wide and experimented those in his dance dramas at Viswa Bharati,” Prof. Mahua Mukherjee explained and also put light on the misconceptions of the term ‘Rabindra Nritya’, as Rabindranath Tagore never introduced any specific style of dance and dressing.
BANANI CHAKRABORTY
Renowned Choreographer, dancer and teacher Banani Chakraborty studied MA in Political Science. She is an ardent practitioner of Gaudiya Nritya, a composite art-form enriched with drama, poetry and rhythm, and folk dances of Bengal (Chhau, Nachni, Kirtan, Bishahara). She is a Senior Research fellow in Gaudiya Nritya from the Department of Culture, Government of India and has conducted research in the subject, Devadasi of Bengal. Also received a Gold Medal from Prayag Sangeet Samiti in the field of Dance in 1991 and was selected as a member of THE ASIATIC SOCIETY – KOLKATA. She is the recipient of ‘KALĀ SAMMĀN’, awarded by WZCC.
Guru Banani Chakraborty has delivered lectures, seminars, conducted many performances and workshops on Gaudiya Nritya all over India and abroad including Ramna Sishu Udyan, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Kazi Nazrul Islam Auditorium, Sylhet, Bangladesh; Indian High Commission, Dhaka, Bangladesh and Gubkin Auditorium, Moscow, Russia.
Production directed includes: CHANDALIKA: Famous Dance Drama of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore choreographed in Gaudiya Nritya and Folk Dances of Bengal (completed the 100th Stage Enactment) in both Bengali and Hindi version. TASHER DESH: Famous Dance Drama of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore choreographed in Gaudiya Nritya and Chhau Dance of Purulia style. JIBANERO DHRUBOTARA: Based on the philosophy of Swami Vivekananda and Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore choreographed in Gaudiya Nritya and Folk Dances of Bengal style. CHENA ACHENAY NAZRUL: Choreographed different dance forms of Bengal based on different styles of songs of Kazi Nazrul Islam. WRITER BOIBHAV: Based on Seasonal Songs of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam. RUDRA-MOHAN: Concept of Hari-Har in Gaudiya Nritya style.
