Oiendrilla Das’s promising Bharatanatyam recital shines in Guwahati

My visit to Guwahati to see Oiendrilla Das's Bharatanatyam recital was a well-made decision. It was a reward to see a good dancer in the making.

- TAPATI CHOWDHURIE

Thanks to the technical advancements of the era, Oeindrilla Das, living in Guwahati, is able to pursue learning Bharatanatyam under Vaibhav Arekar, a resident of Pune, Artistic Director of Leela Dance Company and founder of Sankhya Dance Company. Arekar has the vision of promoting and projecting Bharatanatyam dance as an evolving, contemporary art form. He investigates and interrogates concepts and performance techniques to find the contemporary within our Sastriya folds.

Returning to Oiendrilla's story, she has shown signs of her passion for dance, particularly Bharatanatyam.

She has been a student of Bharatnatyam at her mother's knee. And that has been her first love.

A distinction holder in Sattriya Dance, Oendrilla has undergone rigorous training under Sattriya Guru Ghanakanta Bora.

Her unsatiated hunger for Bharatanatyam made her find a Guru like Vaibhav Arekar, whose boundless humility shies away from using the term Guru before his name.

To continue with the story of Oiendrilla Das, a student of class XI, who is the topper in her class, she wishes to take up the science stream for her academics.

Be that as it may, presently she takes dance lessons online and offline from Vaibhav Arekar, when she visits Pune during her long vacations or when he comes to Guwahati to mentor her.

For a respectful beginning, Oiendrilla performed Guru-Puja, with washing of the guru's feet. In the ancient tradition of our vast land, few practices hold as much significance as Guru Pooja. This sacred act of reverence and devotion towards the Guru is a sacred tradition of the land.