Odissi dancers from UK, Brazil in heritage walk

BHUBANESWAR: Odissi dancers from United Kingdom (UK) and Brazil on Sunday participated in the 57th Ekamra Walks organised at Mukteshwar Temple in the Capital. They are here to witness the Mukteshwar Dance Festival.

Odissi dancers from UK Katie Ryan, Kali Chandrasegaram and Sanjeevani Dutta, who are disciples of Guru Shankar Behera of Mumbai, and Beatriz Ocougne from Brazil were among the participants of the Ekamra Walks which coincided with the auspicious occasion of Makar Sankranti.

All the participants explored Mukteshwar Temple’s art, architecture and its sculpture. The temple in Bhubaneswar’s Old Town area is famous for its unique architecture and carvings.

Sanjeevani had introduced Katie to Guru Shankar Behera in London after which she learnt Odissi, but Kali learnt the classical dance from Geeta Shankar in Kuala Lumpur in 1996 before moving to London.
Beatriz recalled that she was amazed at the performance of the famous Delhi based Odissi Guru Madhavi Mudgal in Brazil in 1992.

“I was so impressed that I started frequently coming to Delhi to learn the dance from Guru Madhavi Mudgal and later from Bindu Juneja of Bhopal, who is also a famous Odissi dancer,” Beatriz said, adding that she has been coming to Bhubaneswar regularly and this is her fifth visit.

Beatriz, who is teaching Odissi dance in Brazil, was also accompanied by one of her students Marcos.
The 57th Ekamra Walks concluded with the participants assembling at the Art Vision institute which was established by renowned Odissi dancer Ileana Citaristi of Italy.

The participants started he walk from Mukteshwar Temple and visited Parashurameshwar, Kotitirtheswar, Ananta Vasudeva, Lingaraj, Chitrakarini, Sari, and Mohini temples along with monuments like Bindusagar and others.