Around 250 Odishi dancers and 200 accompanying musicians from India and abroad including from Italy, the USA, Japan, Malaysia, Germany, Poland and Sri lanka will participate in the five-day- long 8th International Odishi Dance Festival, 2013 to be held at the Rabindra Mandap here from December 26 to 30.
The annual festival is being organised by the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odishi Research Centre in association with the State Tourism and Culture Department since 2006. While 150 Odishi dancers will be from Odisha, 60 will be from outside the State and 30 from abroad.
Director of Culture Sushil Kumar Das told reporters that the festival would infuse a spirit of cultural amity and give an opportunity to the connoisseurs not only from Bhubaneswar but from outside the State and country to experience the beauty and grace of the Odishi dance by brilliant dancers.
As per schedule, every day the festival would have two sessions. While the first session would be held from 4 pm to 6 pm, the second one would begin from 6.30 pm. Nine solo Odishi dances, five duets and three group dances would be performed daily.