Carrying forward the teachings of great Guru Shrinath Raut, Vaishali Kala Kendra, for more than two decades has been organizing ‘Guru Pranam Utsav’ in the memory and honor of the late Guru who dedicated his life proliferating the importance of Odissi as a cultural dance form. Guru Pranam Utsav was conceptualised to pay homage and honor to late guru Srinath Raut and carry forward his teachings and legacy of Guru shishya parampara. This year the festival was organised on 9th April at Indira Gandhi auditorium Noida and on 19th and 20th April at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The first day was dedicated to dance with performances by the great grand disciples of Guruji and the budding dancers of Vaishali as well as Bharatanatyam presentation by disciples of Guru Raman Velayudhan Thyagarajan.
Day 2 was dedicated to music and the event started with a presentation by Siddharth Kishore. He presented raag Madhuvanti chota khayal 3 taal followed by Bhajan in raag Bhageshree. He was accompanied by Roopak Mishra on tabla and Shri Shambhu Nath on Sarangi.
Day 3 was again dedicated to dance and had Odissi and Bharatanatyam presentation. The presentation started with Manglacharan – an ode to lord Krishna by senior disciples of vaishali Isha Das, Pankhuri Shrivastava, Khyati Rawat, Sanvi Rastogi, Shiksha Sinha and Akansha Samantaray followed by Oriya Geet Muha Muhi Kishor presented by Dr Jyoti Shrivastava, The presentation was soulful and strongly portrayed her command over all the different bhavas and very strong satvik bhava. This was followed by kedar Komoudi Pallavi, an choreography of Guru Durga Charan Ranbir and Ashtashambhu. Pallavi was lyrical with graceful body movements and
intricate footwork whereas Ashtashambhu depicted the 8 forms of Shiva with strong footwork and balanced body
postures. Jyoti Srivastava founder and director of Vaishali Kala Kendra said that they were organising this event since last 30 years to maintain a Guru Shishya Parampara.