Bhubaneswar, Dec. 9: An ethereal relationship between a differently-abled devotee and his Lord have come alive on stage on the concluding day of the annual Guru Dakshina Festival at Rabindra Mandap.

Nityananda Das, who lost one leg in a road accident, along with Bijaya Kumar Dash, enthralled the audience with their Odissi recital.

Their presentation titled Priya Sakha portrayed a beautiful story of how the Lord dawns to earth to assist his dancing devotee.

With brilliant co-ordination and impressive facial expressions, the dancers put up a great show. Hosted by the cultural group Kalashrama under the aegis of Nityananda Das, the festival aimed to showcase the indomitable spirit of the differently-abled artistes.

And as the name of the fest suggests, it gave ample opportunities to the artistes to express their gratefulness for their gurus. Focusing on creating a common platform, where the differently-abled can share the stage with others, a number of mainstream artistes, too, performed at the show.

One of the highlights of the festival was a contemporary dance recital by Vinod Thakur and Rakshya Gupta of Nach Baliye and India's Got Talent fame. Despite the fact that Thakur has no legs, he gave an apt accompaniment to her pretty wife. Their performance involved a number of awestruck moments, including his wife lifting him on her shoulders.

Young Odissi dancer Abhipsha Gochhayat from Rourkela, who is also differently-abled, put up a scintillating solo show. Dedicating the performance to her guru, the little dancing diva portrayed attractive mudras (movements) using only one of her hands.

For the audience, the experience was quite fascinating. 'I am touched to see the enthusiasm among these artistes. They are literally against adversities. From their expressions to their sense of rhythm, their performances were out of the world,' said 27-year-old engineer Lipsa Priyadarshini, a member of the audience.

Popularly known as Barman Bandhus in music circles, Calcutta-based percussionists Madhusudan Barman and Gopal Barman stole hearts with their mridangam-tabla jugalbandi. Working their hands flawlessly on the instruments, the duo churned out a pulsating performance combining a number of intricate ragas.

While Jyotsna Rahi Sahoo from Cuttack delightfully depicted the Sita Haran episode from Bichitra Ramayan penned by Biswanath Khuntia, dancing troupe Upasana Centre from Calcutta enchanted the audience with their renditions of Kathak.

The festival is in its ninth edition this year. It conferred the Guru Dakshina Award on Odissi exponent late Guru Raghunath Dutta and the Sumanta Samman on eminent singer Nimakanta Routray.