Pallavi: Celebrating Poetry Sans Words

There are many festivals, but this festival is a bit different. This festival was completely engaged with one important aspect of Odissi dance: Pallavi. It has become a cliché to define “Pallavi” as an elaboration or blooming, but in reality, the varied beauty of Odissi gets its full bloom in this unpredictable work of body poetry. In dance treatise, Pallavi is known as Nritta or pure dance and truthfully the dance piece does not rely on any literary text to present its texture. In the Indian classical dance system, the pure signature of the dance lives in Nritta.  A choreographer is absolutely independent in pure dance to express his/her creative spirit. On the other hand, Abhinaya or expressional choreographic pieces follow the poetry or literary texts. In Pallavi, choreographer writes his/her own poetry.

On March 30,  Gunjan Dance Academy of Cuttack organised an evening of Pallavi at Ravindra Mandap, Bhubaneswar, where five of the most brilliant choreographers of Odissi dance presented their dance numbers in a group format. The evening began with an evocative short piece of Mangalacharana by Gunjan ensemble which was a formal ovation to Lord Jagannath. The first presentation of the evening was Rageshree Pallavi by Guru Durgacharan Ranvir, the most celebrated maestro of Guru Debaprasad Das style of Odissi. The group looked a little bit out of sync and there was serious lack of involvement by dancers with the choreography.

Kalawati  Pallavi by Jyosna Sahu was quite impressive in terms of discipline, decoration and perfection. Her group flowed with the melody and nuanced meter of Mandala. Not a very novel work of choreography but certainly a perfect one. Pancham Savari Pallavi by Ratikant Mohapatra is a complicated piece of music and the choreography was equally crafted with complex footwork and body movements. It was a technical marvel in music and choreography.

The last two presentations of the evening stood out as show stealers. Kirwani Pallavi by host Meera Das and Khamaj Pallavi by veteran Aruna Mohanty were my picks of that evening. Kirwani and Khamaj pierce into the heart with their lyrical flow and brilliant blend of a slow and faster pace. As a dance lover, I use to get disturbed when the slower and most expressive pace of a Raaga is completely ignored in choreography. Fortunately, both Kirwani and Khamaj Pallavi brought out the most gracious beauty of slowness. Meera’s strength is manifested through her dancer’s nuanced expression using bends and curves. Aruna Mohanty crafts her poetry in wordless movements using delicate footwork, subtle movements and an extraordinary balancing act of technicalities and emotions.

The post-pandemic life of dance is coming back to action and certainly, a curated festival like this gives us hope. We need more festivals where there should be focus and elements of churning. Classical dance and music should not fall into the trap of mindless events net.