Featuring nearly 200 dancers, dance scholars and exponents of different dance styles from India and abroad, the fourth edition of the India International Dance Festival (IIDF) will be hosted here from July 20 to 23, daily from 2 pm to 9 pm.
The event will be hosted by Samskritiki, a 27-year-old cultural society of Odisha.
The IIDF was launched in Bhubaneswar in 2015 and it has become a multi-city event in the meanwhile. It happens in Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, New Delhi and in the North East.
The only dance festival of its kind in India, “Celebrating dance sans Divisions” has been the idea behind it. It seeks to bring together tribal, folk, classical, martial and contemporary dance styles on a common platform. The motto is to strengthen bonds among counties and cultures through dance, besides highlighting Bhubaneswar as a city of culture while promoting cultural tourism in Odisha,” explained festival director Shyamhari Chakra.
The dance styles being featured at the IIDF Bhubaneswar this year are Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Odishi, Manipuri, Mohiniattam and Sattriya. Dancers and dance researchers from Argentina, Australia, China, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Middle East and USA are joining the festival in addition to large numbers of dancers from all over India.
Performances apart, the event would include seminars, screening of films and documentaries on dance, exhibition of books, journals, brochures, DVDs and photographs on dance, besides visit to cultural institutions like the Odisha State Museum, Tribal Museum, GKCM Odissi Research Centre, temples and heritage sites in and around Bhubaneswar, Konark and Puri.