Events And Gallery

It has been rightly said that Indian classical dance and music are not just for entertainment, they are designed to elevate your consciousness.

On the occasion of World Dance Day, Suncity School was pleased to welcome the illustrious artists from the SPIC MACAY for a Classical Dance recital in Odissi form by Vidushi Kavita Dwibedi.

SPIC MACAY which stands for (Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth) is a non-political, nationwide, voluntary movement founded in 1977. It inspires the young minds to imbibe the values embedded in the rich and vast cultural tapestry of Indian and World Heritage.

More than 15 schools, such as DPS Sector 45, HDFC School, Siddheshwar School, Suncity School 37-D, Blue Bells Gurugram, Scottish High, Lotus Valley, Rotary Public School, Ridge Valley School, to name a few.

Our Director Ma’am, Mrs Rupa Chakravarty welcomed the guests and felicitated them with bamboo shoots. The program started with lamp lighting, where students of our school presented Surya Stuti during the lighting of the lamp ceremony.

They were invited to witness the Odissi Dance recital, along with the students of Suncity School were mesmerised with the performance of Vidushi Kavita Dwivedi, Shri Suresh Sethi on the vocals, Shri Prashant Mangaraj on the Mardal, Shri Gopinath Swain on the violin and disciple of Kavita Dwibedi ji -Sushri Anushua Chowdhury.

In the first part she explained about the Odissi dance and origination of the dance form-Historical Evidence, Textual, Architectural, Ritual and Performance Traditions. Different parts of the Odissi dance presentation, as there are five different parts in the dance —mangalacharan, batu/sthai, pallavi, abhinaya and moksha. She described the historical part – The oldest of these sites are the Jain cave-temples of Udayagiri and Khandagiri (near Bhubaneswar) which date back to the second century BC. Scenes of music and dance are carved in the façades of these temples in low relief. The most elaborate is the stone panel in the Ranigumpha cave (Cave of the Queen) in Udayagiri, where depictions of men and women dancing around a tree accompanied by musicians are etched on the walls. An inscription in the Hathigumpha cave (Elephant cave), also in Udayagiri, mentions ‘a performance of tandava and abhinaya’ arranged by King Kharavela for his people.

-She explained about what is ‘Batu’ in Odissi dance- Batu Nritya is a pure dance offering in honour of Lord Batuka Bhairava, one of the 64 aspects of Lord Shiva. This dance item is redolent with sculpturesque poses describing such actions as the playing of the drum, veena, flute and cymbals. Also explained about the costumes and jewellery and difference between ‘gutipua’and pure Odissi dance form as well-(For centuries maharis were the chief repositories of this dance. The maharis, who were originally temple dancers came to be employed in royal courts which resulted in the degeneration of the art form. Around this time, a class of boys called gotipuas were trained in the art, they danced in the temples and also for general entertainment. Many of today's gurus of this style belong to the gotipua tradition).

 In the practical demonstration round she presented ‘MANGALACHARAN’- SHIVA STUTI. In the second round it was about different body postures and hand gestures –chouk, tribhanga (the techniques of movement are built around the two basic postures of the Chowk and the Tribhanga. The chowk is a position imitating a square - a very masculine stance with the weight of the body equally balanced. The tribhanga is a very feminine stance where the body is deflected at the neck, torso and the knees) , alasa, darapana etc (-Basic moves and mudras-Samabhanga – the square position, with weight equally placed on the two legs, spine straight, arms raised up with elbows bent).

Abhanga – the body weight shifts from side to side, due to deep leg bends, while the feet and knees are turned outwards, and one hip extending sideways).

-Small presentation of ‘Pallavi’ with her disciple. Facial exression-‘Mukha-abhinaya’ with ‘Navarasa’ followed by the lord Krishna’s small story specially based on vatsalya and shringar rasa.

The audience was left mesmerised with the graceful and enchanting recitals, and Odissi dance recitals by Kavita ji and Anushua ji.

After the performances, our Director Ma’am presented gifts to the artists as a token of appreciation.

The program ended on a great note. The sheer grace, talent, selflessness, beauty and knowledge was a joy to witness and an inspiration to learn from and become a better human being.