Friends,
Our India Premiere of Radhe! Radhe! went well, breaking the ice for Sutra dancers to prepare for their next crucial performance in Bhubaneswar, where we will be the main attraction today 25 Oct, 2025 at the 19th Annual Debaprasad Award Celebration of Tridhara.
Kolkata was a good testing ground for our ‘new’ Krishna, Odia dancer Jagyandatta Pradhan, to assail the challenging main role of performing ‘Krishna’ for the first time. And Jagyan performed it well, dancing with elegance and confidence!
In actual fact, neither the Behala Balananda Brahmachari Hospital organiser nor the audience, was prepared for what to expect of Sutra’s performance of Radhe! Radhe! By the end of Sthai, the second item, the audience was enthralled. When the first half was completed, the organiser implored the audience to give the performers a standing ovation.
This seems to be the call when we perform to audience unfamiliar with Sutra’s prowess and to those who are seeing us for the first time.
However, well known Kolkata Odissi dancer, Debamitra Sengupta and her bevy of dancers, who came early, thinking the dance would start at 6pm stayed back for Sutra’s performance which commenced two and half hours later, only at 8.30pm! Fortunately, she was not disappointed!
Sutra Dancers had to get ready early the next morning (which is this morning!) to catch their flight to Bhubaneswar. They literally have to rush to Rabindra Mandap, Bhubaneswar’s main theatre venue, to prepare their performance in the evening.
Our technical director and lighting designer Sivarajah Natarajan will need to hasten preparations within a short time (as in Kolkata), to prepare the stage, get the LED properly installed for the screening, focus the lights and balance the sound. The adage: the show must go on comes with the territory and cruelly applies here…
It must be said that Radhe! Radhe! is a work which is complete in itself. It has to be savoured without other ‘acts’ that would clash the savouring of its unique story-telling. This is where we appreciate the absolute care taken when aesthetically Sutra is in full control when presenting our performance in our home tuft.
Sutra