Konark: The State Department of Tourism is gearing up for the five-day long 29th Konark Dance Festival from December 1.
Several decisions have been taken at the preparatory meeting held at the Konark Yatri Niwas to make the event a grand one.
The cultural evening, which is scheduled to start at 6.30 pm, will close at 8.30 pm at the specially designed open-air auditorium near the Sun temple. Each evening will showcase two dance forms. Odissi dance would be the inaugural presentation, while the second dance would be from Bharatnatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi or Sattriya.
One of the focus areas of the festival would be the Hockey World Cup, scheduled to be hosted from November 28 to December 16 in Bhubaneswar.
The plans to bring hockey lovers to Konark during the festival have been discussed at the meeting.
The Hockey World Cup would also be promoted during the painting and handicraft exhibitions at the International Sand Art Festival, to be held at Chandrabhaga sea beach.
Padmashree Sudarshan Patnaik, who is the brand ambassador of the International Sand Art Festival, said some of the renowned sand artists and sculptors from abroad would participate in the event this year as well.
The online registration for the festival is going on, he said.
During the meet, some of the speakers complained there is no information on the Konark Dance Festival at the website of the Department of Tourism.
The meeting, chaired by Commissioner-cum-secretary, Tourism Department, was attended by Vishal Kumar Dev, Director Archana Patnaik, Central Range IG Saumendra Priyadarshi, Superintendent of Police, Puri Sarthak Sarangi and other officials.
The Konark Festival, launched 28 years ago, aims to promote cultural tourism by highlighting the world heritage site of Konark. It also provides patronage to the Indian classical dance.