“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” One can truly feel this in Nrityagram dance Village.
The word Nrityagram, literally translated, means ‘dance village’
Nrityagram dance Village
It is a community of dancers in a forsaken place amidst nature. A place where nothing exists, except dance. A place where you breathe, eat, sleep, dream, talk, imagine – dance. A place where all the five senses can be refined to perfection.
Where dancers drop negative qualities such as jealousy, small-mindedness, greed .They malice to embrace their colleagues as sisters . They support each other in their journey towards becoming dancers of merit.
Protima at the age of 26 dedicated her Life to Odissi dance .She dreamt of creating Nrityagram.As a result of her pious dedication the institution had taken root, inaugurated on May 11, 1990, by the then Prime Minister, V.P. Singh.
I have heard many times about Nrityagram before visiting the place.It is known as Dance Village of Karnataka. It’s around 55km from Bangalore city.
I have been always fascinated by the beauty of Odissi Dance. Being an Odia that comes with obvious reasons.
Dancers from this Gurukul performs all over the world.
Route: Bellandur—>K R Puram–>Hebbal–>BEL circle–>Doddabyalkere–>Silvepura–>Nrityagram
Nrityagram and Taj kuteeram are just opposite to each other.There is a board at the entrance of Nrityagram where timings and entry fee details are written.An entry fee of Rs.50 is taken per head.It is opened 10AM-2PM everyday except Sunday.Sunday its closed for visitors
A temple at the entrance ,depicting the image of kelucharan Mohapatra in a dancing pose attracts every visitor.As we entered the dancing village ,soon we heard the beautiful Odissi song.At the reception, we gave our details and took two tickets.
The complex is designed in vernacular architecture of the region.Luckily we got the chance to see the dance of 3 gems,Surupa Sen,Bijayini Satpathy and pavithra Reddy.The 15minutes act was enchanting beautiful.How gracefully they were speaking through dance in the rhythm of Oddisi song .We were so delightful by their engrossing dance
Near to that Surupa house was there.The large expanse of granite on the roof with several pillars is left exposed.A wide dinning hall was there.Than we followed the windy flowery path.Beautiful huts are there for guest to stay.we came across than lynne fernandez’s house who became the Managing Trustee of the institution since 1997.
Many students were there who were practicing and others were watching their steps.Gurus and students work in the fields within the 10 acres of land, and grow their own food. Over the years, only Odissi gurukul has been functional due to paucity of funds.
Taj Kuteeram is a place where one can spent some time relishing good food. We opted the Lunch buffet .After grabbing a nice homely food, we spent some time on the roof of the restaurant. I took some pics of the ducks which were breaking the silence by their quacky sound.
Read about Heritage Village Raghurajpur in Odisha
In our return journey we went to Hessarghata Dam ,but it was completely dry.I bought some fresh vegetables from the village.
