Money, work dry up for Gotipua dancers
BHUBANESWAR: For 20 years now, Gotipua dancer Basanta Kumar Maharana, 35, of Raghurajpur has been dancing in front of the chariots on Rath Yatra, Bahuda and Niladri Bije in Puri every year. This year, he might have to stay away because of the Covid pandemic.
Almost all the opportunities for performances at the temple, including during Chandan Yatra, have been lost to Gotipua dancers like Maharana this year. “My group and I last performed at Rashtrapati Bhawan in early February,” said the man who runs Abhinna Sundar Gotipua Nrutya Parishad in the village.
The lack of work has affected Maharana’s finances. This is especially taxing as the Gotipua teachers continue to follow the gurukul system of teaching, where young boys keen to learn the art live with the masters.
“We not only house them and provide them with food and clothes, we bear their school expenses. Our only source of income is the dance performances,” said Maharana, who has performed abroad and has also conducted workshops for theatre groups in Italy, France, Portugal and UK.
The same is the case with the two other Gotipua dance groups active in the village. In these difficult times, the gurus cannot even send the children back to their homes. “They have to practise every day, otherwise they might forget the steps,” said Basanta Kumar Pradhan, manager of Dasabhuja Gotipua Odissi Nrutya Parishad, which was founded by the late Guru Maguni Charan Das, a Padma Shri recipient. Pradhan said his group had taken a loan to survive.
There are at present 50 to 60 Gotipua dancers in Raghurajpur. Most of them are drawn from villages in Puri district. “I have 20 students from Brahmagiri, Delanga, Khurda and Baralabalingeswar living with me. Besides, there are musicians, singers, caretakers and my own family to look after. Every day, I have to provide four meals each to 35 people. The vegetables grown in my kitchen garden and the rice harvested from my field are seeing us through for now,” said Maharana, adding that nutrition was important for Gotipua dancers as the art form involved acrobatics.
Some senior dancers, who have left for their villages, are now working as daily-wage labourers. Kalu Charan Baral, 24, who has been dancing for the past 15 years, is now a labourer at a construction site and gets Rs 300 to Rs 350 per day.
“I don’t get work every day so I also work on our farm,” said Baral of Kantigorada village, 6 km from Raghurajpur. Sukanta Kumar Sahoo (40) of Badagaon near Nimapara has also taken to farming to feed his family of four, including a paralytic father. “We need to practise daily. This is the only trade we know,” said flautist Narendra Kumar Nayak, 66, of Rourkela, who performs with a group.