International Odissi Festival from Dec 23

Bhubaneswar city will host the biggest ever assembly of Odissi dancers from across the globe at the 7th International Odissi Festival beginning December 23. The week-long grand festival, organised by Odisha’s Tourism and Culture Department in association with Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Research Centre (GKCM ORC) at Rabindra Mandap, will witness excitement and indomitable spirit among the Odissi dancers starting from the young to the veterans of national and international repute.

This year’s festival has been divided into three groups __ veterans, established and young talents.

The festival will feature 70 solo performances, 14 duet and 20 group performances. While the inaugural event on December 23 will witness at least nine solo performances by established dancers and three group performances, the second day will just have recitals by foreign dancers from 10 am to 9.30 pm. The remaining days will showcases 10 solo, two duet and three group performances every evening.

Apart from dance, a four-day workshop will be organised on “Abhinaya” aspect of Odissi by Sonal Mansingh at the GKCM ORC from December 17 to 20. On the concluding day of the workshop, the eminent Odissi dancer-choreographer will present a lecture-demonstration (lec-dem) on the subject at Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyala.

Odissi exponents Sonal Mansingh, Illeana Citaristi, Kumkum Mohanty, Kumkum Lal, Madhavi Mudgal, Minati Mishra, Alok Kanungo, Durga Charan Ranbir, Ramani Ranjan Jena, Minali Mishra, Kiran Sehgal and Ranjana Gauhar are scheduled to perform during the cultural extravaganza along with 398 dancers and 300 musicians from India and countries like the US, Russia, the UK, Japan, Malaysia and Peru.

Some of the international dancers are Jyoti Rout and Saranya Mukhopadhaya from the US, Maria Lora from Peru, Iria Kurisla of Russia and Sachico Murakami of Japan.

Last year, the festival had started with 555 Odissi dancers from across the globe performing at the Kalinga Stadium to set a Guinness world record. (Source – New Indian Express)