My Footprints
Srabani Basu is an Odissi artist from India, trained in Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra gharana. She started her learning at a tender age in Kolkata under the guidance of Smt. Sriparna Roy and continued to learn and perform for consecutive 8 years.
After completion of her engineering degree in computer science and during her professional journey in the field of Information Technology, she has continued her second phase of training in Pune under the able tutelage of Guru Smt. Yogini Gandhi for 6 years. She has also been trained under Guru Smt. Nandini Ghoshal in Kolkata for more than a year and attended workshops of renowned Odissi exponent Smt. Sujata Mohapatra to enhance her knowledge and expertise in this dance form.
She pursued a certification at UNC Charlotte on Indian Classical Dance Pedagogy, as part of which this digital project has been created.
Accolades:
• She was conferred with the prestigious ‘National Nritya Bibhushan award’ in the 9th Cuttack Mahotsava – 2018, in collaboration with Dept. of Culture, Govt. of Odisha
• She has been bestowed with the ‘Navodit Kalakaar Puraskaar’ in the All India Competition of Music & Dance -the prestigious Natvar Gopikrishna National Award Function-2017 in Bhilai. In the same event, she also secured 1st prize with Grade – A (Excellent) in the Solo Odissi Open category competition.
Note from Srabani : I have been a practitioner of Odissi for nearly two decades in two different phases of my life, with a substantial break in between due to academic priorities and professional commitments. While as a child till early teenage it was primarily about learning the basic technicalities of this beautiful dance form to develop a strong foundation, after resuming Odissi as an adult I consider it as a spiritual way of life and an integral part of my existence which doesn’t always involve being on-stage. Since childhood, I have been fascinated about ancient literature and mythological texts which got evolved further in various perspectives with age and life experiences. This has been a primary reason for me feeling the interest to dive deep into the 12th Century epic poem of Gita-Govinda by Shree Jayadeva and to explore its beautiful renditions not only in Odissi, but in other Indian classical dance forms as well through this digital project.
Would like to present two Ashtapadis performed by me as a small footprint in this endeavor !
Chandana-Charchita
Artist’s Byte : As an Odissi student ‘Chandana-Charchita’ has been my 2nd learnt piece from Gita-Govinda, the first one being ‘Dashavatar’ which is the very first Ashtapadi of this magnum opus as well. ‘Chandana Charchita’ is the 4th Ashtapadi describing Lord Krishna’s divine beauty and his playful pastimes with the Gopis of Vrindavana. I have learned this piece from Guru Smt. Nandini Ghosal in Kolkata and this performance is specially cherish able since it brought a national level recognition for me as an Odissi artiste by receiving ‘ Navodit Kalakaar Puraskar’ in the prestigious Natvar Gopikrishna Award Festival in Bhilai (Year 2017).
Sakhi He
Artist’s Byte : ‘Sakhi He’ is the 6th Ashtapadi from Gita-Govinda. I have learned this dance piece through virtual mode from a beautiful rendition by Guru Smt. Sujata Mohapatra during the ongoing Covid19 pandemic. Hence, the exhibition of this piece is also informal which had to be shot at the confinement of home. However, hope my sincere and humble effort on this soulful Ashtapadi depicting Radha’s devoted love for Krishna would be able to touch the audience, despite technical or aesthetic compromisation which was inevitable during this unfortunate circumstances.