Featuring nearly 300 Odishi dancers and delegates from India and abroad, the 10th annual edition of the Biswa Odishi Utsav (International Odishi Dance Festival) will be hosted at the Guru KelucharanMohapatra Odissi Research Centre here from December 23 to 25.
The event is being hosted by the Bhubaneswar-based Samskritiki cultural society in collaboration with various Odishi dance institutions of the world. The objective of the festival is to unite the ever-growing global Odishi family in Odisha, the land of Odishi once every year and encourage the dancers to discover the cultural roots of the dance tradition. It further aims at promoting cultural tourism and fostering friendship among people of different countries and cultures, explained festival founder-director Shyamhari Chakra.
While the festival has been happening in Bhubaneswar since its launch in 2010, it has already been extended as a multi-city event to Bengaluru, Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad and to the USA. Odishi dancers from 22 countries have already been presented by the festival in Bhubaneswar.
Noted New Delhi-based Odishi exponent Guru Kumkum Lal will be honoured with the Odishi International Lifetime Achievement Honour this year for her pioneering contribution to Odishi. The previous recipients of the award have been Professor Ratna Roy (USA), Guru Durga Charan Ranbir (Odisha), Guru Poushali Mukherjee (Kolkata) and Guru Debi Basu (Mumbai).
Performances apart, the three-day festival this year in Bhubaneswar features a seminar on “Odishi Today: Diversity and Possibility”, a visit to the temples and heritage sites of Bhubaneswar for study of dance sculptures and a workshop on makeup for Odishi dancers besides an exhibition of publications on Odishi dance.
This year’s festival is dedicated to Sangeet Natak Akademi-awarded Gotipua Guru BirabarSahoo who passed away earlier this year.