Date: August 28, 2009
Kolkata A full auditorium, TV crew hovering around and photographers clicking away to glory is not something a seven-year-old takes easily, but former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly’s daughter seemed most comfortable in the hullabaloo around her. For a first-time performer, Sana Ganguly seemed completely unperturbed by flash-bulbs that glared at her every other second.
Playing young Krishna in her mother, renowned Odissi danseuse Dona Ganguly’s production, Sana betrayed no hesitation. She stood behind a prop tree, danced out and regaled the audience with her mother, who played Sudama. In fact, one could see her brusquely giving directions to her friends on stage while hiding behind the prop.
“Sana has not performed on stage before this but she is always around when I take classes in my dance school. So, she is very familiar with dance and performing,” says Dona.
The piece was originally conceived by Pt Kelucharan Mahapatra and Dona started learning it, right after Sana was born. “Since then, I always had Sana in mind as the small Krishna,” says the mother of the seven-year-old student of Loreto House.
The performance was a part of a dance drama festival organised by the Pschim Banga Rajya Sangeet Academy at Madhusudan Mancha.
“The piece is a beautiful one and that is why I decided that Sana should make her stage debut with this one. This is not to push her to dancing professionally. She will eventually make her own choice of career and pastimes. But it was always a dream to dance with her,” says Dona about her daughter who has been learning dance since last year.
“We have been on stage, faced the camera and people for a long time now. But it is an overwhelming feeling to see your child perform and get appreciated by the audience,” said Sourav, before leaving hastily, accompanied by security personnel.
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