they say you cannot master an art form such dance without becoming a slave to it first. the gotipua tradition is something akin to devotion to their art.

devotion? yes, gotipuas dance like radha to her krishna, shakti to her shiva…and there’s as much love on the stage as there is expressed in the music that accompanies the gotipuas.

now a bit of the background. the gotipuas have dedicated their life to learn the nuances and the many moves of the odissi form of classical dance. they start as young as four and five, and stay at the guru’s home to learn, when they hit puberty, dancers leave to pursue Odissi with other masters or stay on at the guru’s house or further instruction.

the group came on to the stage, and electrified everyone present.

they jumped and they twirled, they even formed human pyramids…they brought so much energy to the stage even i was compelled to stay and watch.

dressed in identical sarees these little dancers from orissa performed wonderfully the tales of krishna and the gopis. so skilful and acrobatci their performance was, i wondered very idly, if they were more gymnasts than dancers. how could anyone bend and twist that way?

of course i dropped the kulfi i was happily enjoying whn i heard that the gotipuas are all boys! the gestures, the dance movements were all so graceful, no one could’ve guessed.

oh i do have a bone to pick about the songs that were being sung with the dances. shudder! so raucous! but i confess i do ot understand folk art as much as i should.

the boys looked so happy dancing, dressed in sarees that i forgot all about the unkind word ‘drag’ that did pop into my pani-puri addled brain.

also must beg for forgiveness for not havig posted this earlier. as my new avatar of publisher of the Caferati ‘Stories at the Coffee Table’, i got busy, dodging cops who wagged their truncheons at me for trying to sell the book from the boot of the car. also, please watch out for several nubile nymphets ‘psssting’ you and then directing you to the aforementioned car.

:)