A festival of Sattriya dance, Nritya Parva, was presented by the Akademi in collaboration with the Directorate of Cultural Affairs, Government of Assam, from 15 to 17 November 2002 at Rabindra Bhavan, Guwahati. Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Fellow of Sangeet Natak Akademi, inaugurated the festival. The festival featured performances by young practitioners of Sattriya dance in the evening and lecture-demonstration by senior artists and gurus in the morning (16 and 17 November). The festival gave a platform to emerging Sattriya dancers and was well received by the public and the media. It was attended by members of the Akademi’s Advisory Committee for dance, the Sattriya Committee, and a few dance critics from outside the state.

With the Nritya Parva festival in Guwahati, the Akademi has launched a special project of support to Sattriya dance and associated traditions of music and theatre. The project envisages training programmes to identified Sattras for sustaining and developing the art in its original context, expanding performance opportunities for Sattriya artistes through annual festivals in Guwahati (and sponsorship elsewhere), and enhanced support for documentation, research and publication on the subject.

Programme:

15 November 2002

Uttarkamalabari Sattra (Gayan Bayan)

Aparajita Dawka & Pranabi Sarma

Ramkrishna Talukdar, Vedajyoti Choudhury

Pallabi Khaund & Anjali Barbora

Bhogpur Sattra (Gayan Bayan)

16 November 2002

Barpeta Sattra (Gayan Bayan)

Chitralekha Gogoi & Jolymoni Saikia Bhanu Chaharia Deka, Mirananda Borthakur Satarupa Chatterjee & Krishna Chetri Natun Kamalabari Sattra (Gayan Bayan)

17 November 2002

Belaguri Sattra (Gayan Bayan)

Anita Sharma, Manalisha Bora & Kunja Das, Tarali Das

Kamalabari Sattra (Gayan Bayan)

Lecture-Demonstration

16 November 2002

Govinda Saikia, Sharadi Saikia, Sailen Saikia

17 November 2002

Ghanakanta Bora, Garima Hazarika, Jatin Goswami