The fourth edition of the five-day India International Dance Festival (IIDF) hosted here at the Bhanja Kala Mandap by the Samskritiki cultural society concluded on Sunday with impressive performances by dancers from India and abroad.
The concluding day witnessed performances by Mohiniattam dancer Pooja Vijayan from Australia, Bharatanatyam artist Kshirja Govind from Singapore, Kuchipudi dancer Krishna Sreejith from Abu Dhabi, Bharatanatytam dancers Manju V Nair from Bangkok and Swetha Sivan from Sarijah.
The evening also featured Assam’s Sattriya dance by Dimple Saikia, Hydereabad-based Kuchipudi dancers Hima Bindu Kanoj, Suri Srivallai, Anusha Srinivas and Suri Sri Ranjani, Odissi dancers paridhi Joshi from Bengaluru, Rupali Pani from Visakhapatnam, Sanjeev Kumar Jena and Manisha Manaswini from Odisha.
A Bharatanatyam duet by mother-daughter duo Mamatha Karanth and Mayuri Karanth from Bengaluru was greeted with cheers by the audience earlier on the third day of the festival that also witnessed a spectacular group presentation of Odishi by the Cuttack-based Gunjan Dance Academy of internationally-acclaimed dancer and choreographer Meera Das.
The festival helped the audience discover Odias pursuing Bharatanatyam and Kathak as profession. Mysore-based Kathak dancer laxminarayan Jena, the only Odia to have Kathak dance as his profession, performed while Rourkela-based Kalabhoomi institution of Guru Suchismita Biswas presented six Odia girls who are pursuing Bharatantyam.
Seven Indian classical dance forms, Manipuri, Sattriya, Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathak, Mohiniattam and Odishi, were featured in the festival.
“This festival helped me to see Sattriya and Manipuri dances for the first time”, said Visakhapatnam-based Rupali Pani, who dances Odishi. “Many of us toured Odisha for the first time, and our greatest attraction was to visit the spectacular Sun Temple at Konark,” added Swetha Sivan from Sarijah.