Spectacular Odissi dance marks end of Konark Dance Festival

The spectacular Konark Dance Festival, which was organised after a gap of two years due to covid restrictions, came to end on Tuesday.

The festival, which continued for five days, is conceived as the carnival of classical dances of Odisha and it serves as a platform for renowned classical dancers in India to showcase India’s cultural depth through various dance forms including Odissi, Kathak, Satriya, Mohiniyattam, Bharatanatyam, and Kuchipudi among others.

The classical dance extravaganza on its concluding day witnessed mesmerizing performance by celebrity artists presenting scintillating performances of Odissi and Kuchipudi.

Odissi danseuses from Nrutya Naibedya dance troupe enthralled audience with their Odissi performance of Surya Bandana, Pallabi and Sadaripu.  

Later, Chennai-based artistes led by Guru Jaykishore Gosalakanti presented Kuchipudi dance and earned applause.

As the Konark extravaganza was held after two years, it witnessed footfall of lakhs of visitors in the last five days. 

International sand art festival was also concluded on Tuesday. A few distance away from the festival venue, the pristine Chandrabhaga beach in Konark also witnessed sand art by 14 renowned sand artistes on beach. 

Famous sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik said, “I was taken aback to see excitement among visitors to see the creation of sand artists; love for sand art has increased over the years. The International Sand Art Festival witnessed a great rush this year. It witnessed the highest footfall of people in the last 12 years. Many persons returned home due to heavy rush.”

A Kuchipudi dancer said, “I and my husband performed on three songs. I performed here for the third time. We have a dance troupe named Shiva Mohanam in Chennai.”

“I had heard about it but I visited Konark Festival for the first time. It was mesmerizing. It’s mindblowing. It’s superb. I really enjoyed the Odissi performance. The backdrop of the sun temple and the way the lights and sound effects were coming, it was just fantabulous,” said a visitor.