Bhubaneswar: The 24th edition of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award Festival concluded with aplomb at Rabindra Mandap here Sunday.
This year, the Nalco Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award was presented to Dr Sachi Das for his contribution to the field of Theatre and Dramatics and to Lingaraj Behera for his contribution to Odissi Dance. Additionally, the Nalco Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Yuva Prativa Samman was presented to four meritorious young artistes in the area of classical dances and Odissi music for their continuous outstanding performances. They are Sonali Mohapatra and Subikash Mukherjee for Odissi Dance, Swati Sinha for Kathak and Rohan Suresh Dahale for Odissi Music.
The ceremony was inaugurated in the presence of guests, Hema Malini, actress, Ashok Chandra Panda, Minister Tourism and Culture, and Manoranjan Panigrahi, Principal Secretary at OLLC.
After the award presentation, the host institution, Srjan, opened the evening with Kirwani Madhurima, a neo-classical Odissi dance presentation, scripted by Nityananda Misra to the original music composition of Vyzarsu Balasubramaniam and the choreography of Ratikant Mohapatra. They then presented a special performance– Maati, inspired from a popular poem by the iconic Odia poet Radha Mohan Gadanayak. The dance was choreographed by Ratikant Mohapatra.