After the five-day Konark dance festival at the Black Pagoda, it was time for the tourists and the connoisseurs to move to the White Pagoda for another five-day dance extravaganza – the Dhauli-Kalinga Mahotsav – at the foothills of the historic and heritage site of Dhauligiri.While Dhauli dance festival was the dream project of late Odissi Guru Gangadhar Pradhan and was being hosted by his Odisha Dance Academy (ODA), Kalinga martial dance festival was the brain-child of Odissi dancer-choreographer and founder Art Vision Ileana Citaristi and staged by Odisha Tourism. And the two festivals were being organised at the same venue one after the other.Both the festivals were merged into one this year and re-christened as Dhauli-Kalinga Mahotsav by the Department of Tourism that presented the festival in association with ODA and Art Vision with its dynamic festival director Aruna Mohanty giving the re-named festival a distinct identity.Showcasing the classical dances along with the folk, the martial and the contemporary was the uniqueness of the event where a visitor could get glimpses of India’s rich and varied dance styles. Well-known Indian classical dance troupes were featured in the festival that were a treat for the connoisseurs - Odissi by ODA under direction of Aruna Mohanty and Gunjan Dance Academy of Meera Das, Bengaluru-based Kuchipudi exponent Vyjayanti Kashi, Manipuri dancer Priti Patel from Kolkata and Kathak exponent Rajendra Gangani from New Delhi. The folk segment has the captivating Gotipua dance and the Ghoda Nata by its pioneer Utsav Das of Choudwar besides Danda Nata of Ganjam.The martial dance segment featured one of the most gifted and young dancer- choreographers of Asia – Rianto – the Indonesian artiste now based in Japan who was a major attraction for the visitors this year. The Thang-Ta of Manipur, staged both by the male and female dancers, was quite captivating in the segment that also featured the unmasked Chhau dance of Mayurbhanj from Rairangapur. Kolkata’s Sapphire Creations led by its founder-director and dancer Sudarshan Chakravorty presented contemporary martial dance.The Buddha Samman – an annual award instituted by the ODA to honour a pioneer from the field of performing arts – was conferred on eminent Odissi dancer and scholar Minati Mishra during the inaugural evening. The festival witnessed a heavy footfall of visitors including a large number of tourists from abroad this year. And wisely, the hosts invited a large number of students from various colleges of Bhubaneswar in an attempt to expose them to the cultural tradition of the country.
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