Odissi duet by dancers of Gunjan Dance Academy. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Jan. 9: The fourth edition of the International Dance and Music Festival, popularly known as Cuttack Mahotsav, organised by Utkal Yuva Sanskrutik Sangha, had got off to a colourful start at Kala Bikash Kendra on January 4.

Dancers from 16 countries, including India, are taking part in the weeklong festival that will conclude on January 10. A unique mélange of performances by Indian and Western dancers at the ongoing mahotsav here is drawing huge crowds.

Sai Jyothi Palisetty’s performance was one of the attractions. Hailing from Visakhapatnam, her Kuchipudi on Tuesday, the fifth evening of the cultural extravaganza here, was a crowd puller. The artiste performed a dance drama based on Valmiki Ramayan. She depicted different moments from the life of Lord Rama in her act. She enacted Rama Janamam, Kaushik Yagam and Sita Swayambar.

Kuchipudi is one of the eight major classical dance styles and covers diverse aspects such as music (raga, tala, sruti), dance, acting, expression of bhava and eight kinds of rasas.

Apart from Kuchipudi, an Odissi duet by Sasmita Panda and Puspa Panda, dancers from the Gunjan Dance Academy of guru Meera Das, was appreciated as well.

The artistes performed the rasa leela of Lord Krishna and Radha, choreographed by Meera Das. A Bharatnatyam performance by Sumitra Chakraborty from Calcutta and a solo Odissi by Sujata Mishra were added attractions of the evening.