Bhubaneswar, Dec. 16: People are flocking to Utkal Mandap to catch a glimpse of various tribal dances forms from across the country.

Artistes from various parts of the country have gathered here to participate in the three-day-long National Tribal Dance Festival, which was inaugurated yesterday.

Organised by the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute, in collaboration with Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, Bhopal, and Academy of Tribal Language and Culture, this is the sixth edition of the festival.

The inaugural show featured performances by dancers from Koraput who performed the Dhemsa and Kedu dance forms of the Kutia Kondh tribe. Artistes from Assam and Nagaland also performed dance forms of the Rabha and Naga tribes. Schoolchildren also performed the Gotipua and Chhau folk dance forms at the event.

Though the arrangements have won the organisers a lot of praise, the selection of school students as artistes at a national-level dance festival and the inclusion of folk dance forms at the event have drawn a lot of criticism.

"This year the festival looks bigger than last year. The stage has been well decorated," said Urvashi Mishra, a member of the audience.

"Its such a big event, in fact, a national-level festival for tribal dances. It is disappointing to see schoolchildren performing instead of senior artistes. It is strange that the organisers have included Gotipua, which is related to Odissi, and is definitely not a tribal dance form. Also, Chhau is considered to be a folk dance," said Biswabhushan Rout, another member of the audience.

Director of the research and training institute A.B. Ota said that though Gotipua was not a tribal dance form, the artistes who performed it on the inaugural day were tribal children. "These students are from a tribal school of the SC and ST development department set up in Konark. Since they have learnt Gotipua, they were given a chance to perform at the event," he said.

The last day of the event will showcase various dance forms from other parts of the country.