Bhubaneswar, Sept. 30: Senior artistes and budding Odissi dancers will stage various compositions at the two-day Adi Guru Pankaj Charan Das Award festival, which will begin tomorrow at Rabindra Mandap.

To be hosted by the Guru Pankaj Udra Sanskuti Academy, the festival will also felicitate veteran artistes for their contribution to the field of dance.

This year, the event entered its second edition, and the performances would feature veteran disciples of the legendary Pankaj Charan Das, one of the founder gurus of Odissi.

Odissi exponent Padma Charan Dehury will inaugurate the event. Thereafter Rajshri Prahraj of Srjan will perform a solo recital.

The highlights of the final evening will be a duet by Lingaraj and Sanjukta Pradhan of the city-based Rudrakshya foundation. The duo are known for their brilliant co-ordination and chemistry on stage. There will also be a number of solo presentations by Cuttack-based dancer Munmun Chakrobarty, Dushmant Kumar Swain and also Arati Kar from Bhubaneswar.

A duet by dancers from the Nrutyalaya and group performances by artistes of institutions such as Debadasi, Nrutya Upasana Pitha and Nupur are also lined up for the event.

"We have tried to bring in all aspects of Odissi dance in solo, duet and group performances. Also, many of the compositions of late guru Pankaj Charan Das will be staged at the event," said festival organiser Pallavi Das.

Apart from dance recitals, the event will feature felicitation of veteran artistes by presenting them the Guru Pankaj Charan Das Award.

"Last year, we had presented the award to mardala exponent Banamali Moharana and Gotipua and Odissi dancer guru Gobinda Chandra Pal for their rich contributions to the Odissi music and dance. This year, we will present the lifetime achievement award to vocalist guru Ghanashyam Panda and Odissi guru Gopi Krushna Behera," said Das.