Unlike in the past, the State Tourism Department has commenced its preparations for four of its major annual dance and music festivals well ahead of the schedule in a bid to boost its cultural tourism prospects during the winter this year.
The department has constituted a committee of experts on dance and music this week in order to select the artistes and troupes for Konark dance festival, Rajarani music festival, Mukteswar Odishi festival and Dhauli-Kalinga dance festival.
“The dates of these prestigious festivals are fixed that enable the tourists and connoisseurs to plan their trips well ahead of time. By announcing the names of the artistes earlier, we wish to generate more excitement in them so that the festivals get greater and better response,” an official of the department explained.
“We send the posters and brochures of the festivals to the Indian Embassies and High Commissions abroad apart from distributing among the international and national tour operators. Such publicity initiatives help people from far and wide to visit our festivals that aim at promoting tourism while providing patronage to culture”, he explained.
Hosted at the specially constructed open air theatre with the Sun Temple of Konark serving as its backdrop, the Konark festival of Indian classical dances is being staged since 1989. The five-day festival, held every year from December 1 to 5, showcases Odishi dance every evening along with five other Indian classical dances during the five evenings. The International sand art festival has been an added attraction to it in recent years.
The Mukteswar Odishi dance festival, that follows the Konark festival, is held from January 14 to 16 in the lawns of the exquisite Mukteswar Temple in the capital city of Bhubaneswar. Here, the famous stone arch forms the backdrop to the festival that attempts to highlight Odishi dance as the global identity for Odisha’s culture. Close on its heels comes the Rajarani music festival from January 18 to 20 that is staged in the sprawling green lawns of the Rajarani Temple with the beautiful temple forming its backdrop. The only music festival of its kind for the State, it invites stalwarts of Carnatic, Hindustani and Odishi music every year.
The Dhauli-Kalinga dance festival, held at the foothills of the Dhauli near Bhubaneswar with the peace pagoda as its backdrop from February 6 to 8 is a collaborative event hosted collectively by Odisha Tourism and the two city-based dance institutions - late Guru Gangadhar Pradhan’s Odisha Dance Academy and Ileana Citaristi’s Art Vision. The specialty of this festival is the coming together of the classical, martial, folk, tribal and contemporary genres of dances from India and abroad, informed festival director and Odishi dance exponent Aruna Mohanty.