In a maiden initiative in Odisha, the first ever 3 day Online Theatre Festival organized by Nandanik, a theatre group based in Koraput, Odisha kicked off with Padma Bibhushan Dr Sonal Man Singh delivering a lecture on virtual mode on Abhinaya and Abhivyakti in dance.
Minister culture J P Panigrahi, MP Saptagiri Ulaka, Prabosh Rath, Secretary, Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi and Ananta Mohapatra, eminent Film & Theatre personality of Odisha were online.
Dr. Mansingh fondly recalled her maiden visit to Koraput for a performance and reminisced the beauty of the journey through the eastern ghats en route. She described the concepts of Abhinaya and Abhivyakti and the different kinds of Abhinaya as per the Indian performing arts tradition.
She beautifully explained and also demonstrated the use of body and psyche to express the Bhavas and Rasas of performance. She dwelled upon various concepts of Indian classical performing arts tradition like Nataraj, Lingaraj, Harihara, Chakshoosha Yagna, Astapadi, Rsa Nispatti etc . She also described the socio-cultural, psychological & anthropological aspects of dance. She elaborated the nuances of a theatrical production alerting about the Dosha of exaggeration and use of Iconography.
Monideepa Gupta, secretary of Nandanik and Sourav Gupta, Director of Nandanik moderated the session. The 3rd Asim Basu Memorial Award was handed over to Himanshu Ranjan Satapathy by Bhaswati Basu in virtual mode.
The award, named after Asim Basu, late theatre thespian of Odisha and a joint venture by Nandanik and Asim Basu Foundation is given as a mark of encouragement to young theatre artist of KBK region.
An E Book titled, Dhemsa Maro Nona, on the activities of Nandanik in Koraput over five years was released by Prof Mrinal Chatterjee, Regional Director, Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal.
Monideepa Gupta informed that in the next two days 8 plays in 5 Indian languages with two webinars will be streamed through Nandanik’s social media page in online mode.