Event Details

Kathak by Maitreyee Pahari & Troupe
Paramaleela
Sattriya by Dr. Anwesa Mahanta & Troupe

An NCPA Presentation

Maitreyee Pahari is a dancer and cultural researcher whose deep engagement with India’s traditional arts has taken her into the heartlands of Bengal, Bihar and Odisha. Her work reflects a lifelong commitment to the preservation, promotion and propagation of indigenous cultural expressions. Rooted in both classical and folk traditions, Pahari began her journey in Kathak in Kolkata and later honed her craft at Kathak Kendra in New Delhi under the guidance of Vaswati Misra and Birju Maharaj. A graduate of Rabindra Bharati University, she also holds a degree in Manipuri dance. Pahari has performed extensively across India and internationally and is a recipient of the prestigious Charles Wallace Fellowship. She is the founder-director of Lok Chhanda Cultural Unit, a repertory which serves as a platform for innovative work anchored in tradition.

Sufiyana is based on the baul, the qalandar, the ever-happy fakir, intoxicated in joy and in search of eternal enlightenment. The Sufis conceive God as the beloved and Man as the lover, and the only way to enlightenment is shedding our dislike, hatred and prejudices, annihilating ourselves and unitin with God through prayer and love. The performance is rhythmical and intricate, with intense technical prowess performed by talented dancers.

Dr. Anwesa Mahanta, a national award-winning dancer and researcher specialising in the field of Sattriya, has received accolades for her unique interpretations of the dance form, keeping intact the core philosophy of the form and its ritualistic practice. One of the senior-most disciples of Sattriya maestro, Bayanacharya Ghanakanta Bora, Dr. Mahanta has completed her doctoral thesis from the University of Delhi and served as a visiting artist in residence at IIT Guwahati. A recipient of Charles Wallace India Trust Scholarships (CWIT) Fellowship, British Council, to pursue further research at Queen’s University Belfast, she has several scholarly publications to her credit. She has also researched various aspects of the intangible cultural heritage of Assam with fellowships from Sangeet Natak Akademi and the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. She has been honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Yuva Puraskar, Aditya Vikram Birla Kalakiran Award, Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Yuva Samman and FICCI YFLO Women Achievers Award, among others. An empanelled artist of the ICCR, Dr. Mahanta is the Artistic Director of Kalpa, which organises the Pragjyoti International Dance Festival. Recently, she was honoured with the prestigious title of Arirang Master from Culture Masters, Republic of Korea, for her contribution to dance. She has worked on collaborative research and archival recordings with the University of Otago and INTACH documenting work in performance ethnography and community performances.

Paramaleela is a series of dance narratives and interpretations that centres on the Vaishnavite philosophy of the Sattriya tradition founded by the great saint poet Srimanta Sankaradeva as found in the vast repository of texts of Bhakti poetry, penned by the saint poet and his principal apostle Madhavadeva. The performance reflects how the body becomes a tool to express the worldview of the dancer.

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