Bhubaneswar: The annual 3-day Mukteswar Dance Festival was kicked off yesterday at the sprawling lawns of Mukteswar temple in Bhubaneswar.
The festival, inaugurated by Bhubaneswar North MLA Priyadarshi Mishra, got off to a spiritual start with a chorus performance of ‘Shiva Vandana’ by the students of Guru Kelu Charan Mohapatra Odissi Research Centre (GKCM ORC) followed by a solo Odissi dance performance by Surupa Sen of Bengaluru.
The second performance was a scintillating duet by Rajiv Bhattacharya and Subikash Mukherjee from Kolkata who enacted scenes from the epic Mahabharata. The final performance of the evening was a group dance by Pravat Kumar Swain & members of Nrutya Naivedya Group, Bhubaneswar.
“Like performing in Konark and Khajuraho dance festivals, dancing at Mukteswar Dance Festival is a dream-come-true for an Odissi dancer,” said an Odissi dancer from Kolkata.
“I visited the fest for the first time and the performances were really good,” said a foreign national Lidiam.
On Tuesday, a solo Odissi dance will be performed by Lingaraj Pradhan followed by a duet performance by Lipsa Satapathy and Y. Asha Kumari of New Delhi. On the concluding day, city-based dancer Janhabi Behera will perform a solo Odissi dance.
The Mukteswar Dance Festival is organised every year by the Department of Tourism, Government of Odisha to celebrate Odissi dance form and culture of Odisha.