post news network, Bhubaneswar, May 3: The Nrutyashala, an institute of dance and fine arts celebrated its 12th annual dance festival at Rabindra Mandap here Sunday. The dance performances by the students of the institute, which included Odissi, folk dance and Odissi dance drama ‘Madhubasanta’, enthralled the audiences.
The programme started with ‘Mangalacharana’, a devotional song, after which a series of performance that included ‘odissi sthaee’, a solo dance, sabri palavi, a group dance, Shiva tandav, another group dance etc were performed by the young students of the institute. Folk dance performances, which included Sambalpuri dance, jhumur dance etc. captivated the audiences.
Speaking on the occasion, Ashok Ghosal, who had choreographed the dance drama, said, “The institute is purely dedicated to Odissi dance. Our main purpose is to popularise and promote Odissi dance and folk dances of the state among the dance lovers. We have around 200 students in our institute as also a hostel for boy students. Every year we organise different dance festivals to promote the dance forms.”
“The dance drama has been the mainstay of today’s programme. Through it we wanted to show the beauty of the spring season. During spring we celebrate Holi, which we also call Dola Purnima,” said Ashok.
The programme was attended by odissi guru Niranjan Rout, chhau dance guru Sadashiv Pradhan and HoD of PG department, Utkal University of Culture, prof Naba Kishore Mishra.