The 21st India Theatre Olympiad has got off to a colourful start here since Friday night when scintillating performances of classical, sub-classical, folk and modern dances were performed by artists from Maharashtra, Assam along with local performers.
Earlier in the day Mysore-based Nrithya Mayuri Natya Visharade’s Vidushi AS lalitha and Vidushi AS Kanhana had inaugurated the mega theatre festival to rousing applauds in the presence of several eminent artists of Odisha.
Organised by the city-based Utkala Yuva Sanskrutik Sangha, the mega event, which includes an International Drama Festival, will continue till October 5 at the Kala Vikash Kendra here. The Sangha has been holding this unique festival nonstop for last 20 years at this time of the year and it is said to be the only such festival across the world to have been organised continuously for such a long time.
Speaking on the occasion, speakers from Odisha and outside praised Sangha secretary Prof Kartik Chandra Rath, who has been singlehandedly carrying the torch of the festival untiringly for all these years. Prof Rath, an eminent playwright himself, informed that the festival this year has been designed to promote “women empowerment” and is dedicated to Sangha’s former president late Justice DM Patnaik. “Most of the dramas to be staged this year have the moral theme to boost women empowerment,” he said.
More than 150 troupes from Odisha and outside, including foreign performers, would stage at least 75 shows of dance, music and drama during the fortnight-long festival that would also have competitions of dance and music in classical, folk and modern versions. On the inaugural evening, a music troupe of local Royal Trinity Institute mesmerised the audience with its captivating performances on instrumentations. It was, however, left to a junior troupe from Pune in Maharashtra, Natraj Nathya Vidyalaya, to steal the limelight of the evening by their flawless performances in semi-classical and modern dances.
But the Jhankar Production troupe from Moran in Assam also did not lag behind, and adding more colour to the lively evening captivated the audience with Bihu and modern dance performances.