The dance drama genre, which Rukmini Devi raised to such a sophisticated level, has over the years been done to death — many of the manifestations not going beyond very amateurish levels. Geeta Mahalik’s Upasana Repertory staged “Urvashi” at the India Habitat Centre, the evening starting very appropriately with the conferring of the Upasana Samman on Guru Mayadhar Raut — perhaps one of the few from the days of Jayantika still with us.
The dance drama was spun round the theme of Urvashi, the celestial dancer who loses her heart to the comely prince Arjuna, who however rejects her advances, pleading that she think of him as her son.
Scorned in love, the vengeful Urvashi curses Arjuna that he will lose his manhood and become a eunuch. But at a point in his life when the Pandavas are forced into exile and have to remain incognito, Arjuna as a dance teacher in Virata kingdom, finds his third gender state the ideal disguise.
The dance substance, compared with the way Odissi has advanced in the last half a century with excellent group productions, reminded me of the dance in the ’60s, in its simplistic treatment.
The male roles came off more convincingly. The sringar exchanges, with Geeta Mahalik as Urvashi and Rajanikant Mohanty as Arjuna, just did not come off.
The recorded music, while tuneful, had in the customary treatment a quality of the already heard. There was nothing special about it.
Frankly one feels that instead of these costume dramas, at this stage, Geeta Mahalik should try something more challenging.
