The five-day International Odishi Dance Festival (IODF) hosted by the State-run Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odishi Research Centre (ORC) at the Rabindra Mandap here concluded on Saturday. Nearly 300 dancers from four foreign counties, Japan, Russia, China and the USA, and India performed in the event.
The IODF was launched in 2006 as a National Odishi Dance and Music Festival by the State Department of Culture with the ORC being entrusted with design and implementation of the event that happens every year during December 26 to 30 in Bhubaneswar. With removal of the Odishi music segment in 2012, it has been the Government’s exclusive Odishi dance festival aiming at promoting and documenting the growth of the dance form.
The heavy footfall at the festival this year pointed to the growing popularity of the Odishi dance. The performances were going on from afternoon to late evening spanning over six hours daily.
This year’s festival presented a large number of budding and upcoming dancers and lesser-known dance groups unlike previous years. Nearly 100 solos, 15 duets and 15 groups were featured. “For a budding dancer like me, it feels great to perform as a soloist in such a grand festival and be paid a performance fee,” acknowledged Simran Zaman, a student from the New Delhi-based Jamia Milia Islamia University.
“All dancers who perform in this festival are offered a performance fee, travel expenses and hospitality. During the past 11 years, almost all veteran dancers and well-known troupes have been invited to the festival. So, we decided to offer more space to the young and upcoming dancers, choreographers and troupes this year,” explained ORC Chief Executive Sangita Gosain. “The greatest attraction and achievement of this festival is the emphasis on performances to live music. With the growing use of recorded music over the years, the musicians are being deprived of their presence on stage while the audience also misses watching them perform live. This is the only festival of its kind where we ensure that dance happens with live music,” added Guru Ratikant Mohapatra, an advisor to the festival who helps the ORC design the festival.
“Since ORC has been named after my father Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, I feel it my sacred duty to offer my service and expertise for the festival hosted by the Odisha Government,” he said.