Gotipua: A Celebration of Odisha’s Rich Dance Heritage
November 3, 2026
The 2026 edition of Kaleidoscope: The Intraschool Art and Literary Festival of Seth M. R. Jaipuria School saw vibrant participation from students of Grades 1 to 5. Artists, science and tech wizards, and indoor sport enthusiasts congregated in joyful enthusiasm as they tested the limits of their creativity and ingenuity. Kaleidoscope proved to be an occasion for students to not only display their remarkable talent and intelligence, but also to bond with their peers in a spirit of comradeship and friendly competition. There were heartwarming sights of children helping and encouraging their fellow contestants in a way that moved beyond the competitive spirit to embrace the spirit of human unity and oneness.
Non-Fire Cooking
One such event where the collaborative spirit thrived was the ‘Non-Fire Cooking’ competition. It reinforced the School’s tradition of embracing healthy eating practices, as exemplified by events such as ‘Fruit Awareness Week’ and habits such as fruit breaks. Beyond experimenting with healthy gastronomic delights, the event also saw contestants heartily helping and cheering each other. In conversations with them at their food stalls, several participants proudly shared moving anecdotes of their friends contributing to the success of their culinary endeavours by sharing ingredients or helping with the preparation. Through such small but meaningful gestures, they have proven that the true aim of these competitions is not to win trophies, but to secure the much higher prize of discovering the joy of learning to grow together.
Creative and Performing Arts
True to its name, Kaleidoscope featured several colourful and dynamic events that nurtured the students’ passion for creative and performing art forms. The ‘Paint without Brushes’, ‘Mandala Art’, ‘Wearable Craft’, and ‘Clay Modelling’ competitions served as platforms of creative self-expression for the children. Sights of bright colours, patterns, and shapes richly adorned the venues, splendidly displaying the peerless aesthetic disposition of the students. Similarly, the ‘Hindustani Music Vocal (Bhajans)’, ‘Instrumental’, ‘Hindustani Vocal – Semi Classical (Non-Filmy)’, ‘Indian Folk Dance’, ‘Semi Classical Dance’, and ‘Western Music and Beat Boxing’ events proved to be occasions for students to showcase their remarkable performing prowess.
Two segments particularly stood out amongst these: ‘Indian Folk Dance’ and ‘Semi Classical Dance’. These dance competitions enthralled the audience with the splendid performances they showcased. They saw both self-trained and professionally trained dancers shine on stage, energetically cheered and applauded by the audience. Notably, Aarvi Srivastava’s (3E) performance particularly captured the imagination of the audience. Her dance to the popular number ‘Lukk Chup Na Jao Ji’ was so enchanting that she was invited to repeat it twice—once for the Principal, Ms. Promini Chopra, and another time for the Vice-Principal, Dr. Anupam Vidyarthi, both of whom graced the occasion and encouraged the participants.
Hanuman Ansh Fever
As the dance performances continued, one particular song proved popular amongst the participants as well as the audience: it was the superhit song ‘Parvati’ from the recent blockbuster Hanuman Ansh. As several contestants chose to dance to this captivating song, a wondrous phenomenon unfolded in the School auditorium. The song sent the children into a complete frenzy, as they rose from their seats to dance and sing along with infectious fervour and ecstasy. With each repetition of the song, the singing and the dancing amongst the children only got louder and more energetic. In light of this exuberant reception of the song, the School proudly recollects that when the Hanuman Ansh team visited the School on 9 September 2026, Sadhu Tiwari (the music director and singer of the film) mesmerised the audience in this very auditorium by leading the collective singing of ‘Parvati’.
InnoSpark
In addition to hosting ‘Tech Wings’ for tech enthusiasts, Kaleidoscope also featured ‘InnoSpark’ for students of Grades 3, 4, and 5, which proved to be one of the clear highlights of the festival. InnoSpark is a student-led initiative that was inspired by Innoventure. Innoventure is a national-level competition designed to encourage creative thinking, problem-solving, and innovation. With students from Senior School participating and succeeding in Innoventure, they wanted to introduce the format to their Junior peers so as to hone and nurture their critical thinking skills from a young age. And thus was born InnoSpark. To reflect the fraternal and sororal spirit of mentorship behind InnoSpark’s genesis, each team had mentors from Grades 8 and 9 to support and guide them. The event was generously supported by judges from the parent, teacher, and student community, who posed thought-provoking questions that the students answered with a perfect combination of intelligence and insight.
Other Events
In ‘What If’, students were presented with an imaginary situation and were asked to narrate how they would deal with that circumstance, which sparked some humorous takes. In ‘Silent Movie Dubbing’ (Hindi), contestants were provided with muted clips from Hindi movies to dub, which often saw the audience in splits. Carrom and Chess competitions proved to be great additions to the festival for indoor sport enthusiasts. They proved very popular amongst students, drawing large numbers of enthusiastic participants. These games were spread over all three days of Kaleidoscope, with several rounds leading up to the final. The success of Carrom and Chess competitions demonstrates the students’ strong passion and commitment to these indoor sporting events. Amongst the other rich array of events were ‘Readers’ Theatre’, ‘2-Minute Spotlight’, ‘General Awareness Quiz’, ‘Math-a-Maze’, and ‘Treasure Hunt’, all of which saw enthusiastic participation from students.
Overall, Kaleidoscope 2026 proved to be a festival where communities bonded, peers thrived, creativity flourished, and innovation sparked.
