Minister of Culture, Tourism and Spirituality Usha Thakur will inaugurate the globally acclaimed 'Khajuraho Dance Festival' on Saturday at the World Heritage 'Khajuraho'. The 47th Khajuraho Dance Festival is being held from February 20 to 26 in Khajuraho based on the traditions of the Indian classical dance tradition.

This ceremony will be held once again in the temple complex of the Western Temple Group after a gap of 44 years. This will give the audience a chance to watch the performance of the dancers amid the aura of the temple.

The Khajuraho dance ceremony will start at 7 pm. Admission to this will be free. The event will begin with Bharatanatyam by Geeta Chandran and her troupe and Kathak by Deepak Maharaj.

On February 21 on the second day, Aishwarya Warrier will present Mohiniyattam, Meerananda Barathakur, Utpala Hukai, Aligunjan Kalita Mudiyar and Chandrani Kalita Ojha will give a presentation of Sathiya-Kathak duet and Aruna Mohanty and fellow artists will present Odissi group dance.

On the third day of the ceremony on February 22, Kathak duet will be performed by Sourav-Gaurav Mishra, Marg Natya by Pial Bhattacharya and troupe and Kathak-Bharatnatyam duet will be presented by Sulagna Banerjee and Rajdeep Banerjee.

The highlight of the fourth day of the event on February 23 will be an Odissi duet by Vinod Kevin Bachchan and Vrinda Chaddha, a Satria group by Anita Sharma and troupe and a Kathak dance by Priya Shrivastava.

The fifth day of the festival on Feb 24 will feature Odissi by Poornashree Raut, Kuchipudi by Avijit Das and Mohiniyattam group dance by Bharti Shivaji and fellow artists.

On the sixth day on February 25, Maitreyi Pahari and fellow artists will perform a Kathak, Satyanarayan Raju will present Bharatnatyam, while Ayana Mukherjee and Prashant Kalia will present Kuchipudi-Chhau duet dance. On the last day of the function on February 26, artists of Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy will perform Manipuri Group,

Arya Nande will present Odissi and Poornima Ashok and fellow artists will give a presentation of Bharatnatyam group dance.