Radha Madhava Rang Rangi was a unique festival of classical dance, which celebrated the theme of the eternal love between Krishna and Radha. It was presented by Shatabdi Nrityayan at Prayas auditotium of Jalpaiguri with the support of the ministry of culture. 

Trained in the Guru Deba Prasad genre of Odissi, talented dancer Shatabdi Mallick, who has made a name for herself at quite a young age, opened the festival by performing to an Odiya lyric where Radha is mesmerised with the beauty of the flautist who charms her. The taals and bols of the song were beautifully interwoven into the lyric and that gave her scope to display feelings and pure dance. 

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The Odissi group of Shatabdi Nrityayan showcased the happy event of playing  with colours during the Vasant season. The fresco-like poses and movements were sensuous to the core. Sumita Paul, Raju Mishra and Saralipi Chatterjee were true to the spirit of the dance. However, performer Pallavi Das stuck out like a sore thumb and somewhat marred the aesthetic nature of the piece. Shatabdi Mallick’s choreography was quite promising.  

Odissi soloist Eiko Shinohora is an Indian born to Japanese parents. A student of Rahul Acharya, she continued her training under Durgacharan Ranbir. She sensitively extolled the activities of the eternal lover Krishna in a beautiful Odiya lyric, Kadamaba mulore rahe. Her expressions and movements in the tribhangi style will pale many a dancer. On the other hand, Sumedha Sengupta’s abhinaya piece, Tolagi gopa danda hey kaliya was replete with the activities of Kaliya or Krishna through sancharis.

Aparupa Patnaik from Bhubaneswar, again a disciple of Durgacharan Ranbir for the last 17 years, evocatively told another poignant Krishna tale. Sattriya dancer Dimpy Vaishya, a disciple of Guru Jatin Goswami, gracefully described the physical attributes of Krishna — one feels she will go a long way with her dedication.

Kalamandalam Nimmi came all the way from Kerala to present the beautiful art of her region — Mohiniattam. The song Aaj aaye Shyam Mohana penned by Maharaja Swati Tirunal was a beautiful number chosen to show her emotive quality. The tillana successfully captured the slow circular movements of the form that gives it lyrical basis. 

Moving on, Kuchipudi dancer DSK Sannidha, a disciple of Harikumar Murthy, made a mark with her flawless rendition. At a young age she has mastered the art form. With Ganesh Vandana she established herself as a dancer of some mettle — her pure dance and half-circle movements as well as the movements of the legs were true to the style of Mohiniattam. Possessed with a lissom body, she glided over the stage presenting one dance after another. 

Manoj Kumar Pradhan and Jyotirmoyee Das performed a duet Odissi dance. They belong to the Deba Prasad Gharana and are mentored by Durga Charan Ranbir. The abhinaya aspect of the duet, where Radha entreats Krishna not to block her way could perhaps have been improved. One felt that their perfect rendition of pure Odissi nritta lacking nothing. Their beautiful leaps, jumps and sweeping movements gave substance to the dance. 

Thereafter, Odissi group Charukriti of Jalpaiguri performed the astapadi, Lalitalabnga lata from Jayadeva’s Geeta Govinda, which was choreographed by Debdutta Lahiri and was much appreciated by the audience.

Manipuri, another beautiful dance form, was ably performed in contrasting styles by Ivana Sarkar of Kolkata and T Roneld Meitei from the Bishnupur district of Manipur. The former, a disciple of both Guru Bipin Singh and Kalavati Devi, performed Radha Roop Varnan, an exclusive solo creation of Guru Bipin Singh, describing the heavenly beauty of Radha in a graceful style. She then performed Shyamo Manohara — the one whose eyes are lined with kohl and who is the apple of the eye of Radha. She closed with Pantho Jagoi in taal teora, which is another admirable composition of Guru Bipin Singh in both Tandava and Lasya style. 

T Roneld Meitei, a disciple of W Lokendrajeet Singh, performed Radha Viraha, where the beauteous Radha of Braj is pining for Krishna. One of the finest products of the Jawaharlal Manipuri Dance Academy, Roneld delineated Radha’s feelings using no facial expression. His tool was his body, which told the story and the sounds of the pung gave the piece its aesthetic beauty.

Atanu Das from Kolkata performed Bharatnatyam through a Keertanam in ragam Revagupthi and talam mishrachapu in seven beats. The music composer for the piece was Maharaja Swati Tirunal while the dance was composed by Hari Padman of The Kalakshetra foundation, Chennai

Kathakas Ankita Saha and Nivedita Dutta have honed their skills from stalwarts of both the Jaipur and Lucknow gharanas and therefore, expectations ran high but they were soon belied. Starting with Vandana, they went on to show the intricacies of the technique of Kathak but in the emotive part, they had limited stage transformation. Asimbandhu Bhattacharjje’s student, Somali Roy, on the other hand, won over the audience with her rendition of Radha Krishna Milon Ullas as well as the technical nuances of the form.

Kathakali dancer Sumita Roy, trained under TS Vasunni in Rabindra Bharati University, did a piece from Dusshasana Vadam. In this piece Krishna was trying to end all differences between the Kauravas and Pandavas by an agreement of peace, which was not acceptable to Draupadi, who wanted to avenge her insult. Krishna convinced her by saying that the Kauravas would never accept a peaceful ending of their differences. Pasyati mama sakhi ma kuru was a lyric that was vocal in asking Draupadi not to shed tears. 
Gaudiya Nritya has always remained an enigma to this reviewer. I am at a loss for words for this so-called dance form. What place it has in a festival showcasing the classical dance forms of the country is a mystery. Ruma Dey and Riya Dey did not have the right to take up performance time and space. After all, dance is a visual art form, which needs well-tuned bodies — both were lacking on that front. Rendition of an Odissi piece without its prerequisite tribhanga and chauka, and Bharatnatyam without its aramandali, coupled with ill-fitting costumes, made them a complete eyesore. The dance form is rather economical with aesthetic imagination and uses a whole lot of props with no distinct feature to single it out as unique.