Bhubaneswar, Jan. 1: The International Odissi Dance Festival concluded at Rabindra Mandap in the city on Monday.

The state’s culture and tourism department hosted the five-day festival that began on December 26. It was organised by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Research Centre.

About 250 dancers along with 200 musicians performed during the festival in two sessions every day. Dancers from all over the country and outside showcased their skills and also interacted with one another to understand the state’s classical dance form better.

Manjushree Panda’s ‘Ka’ champu, Dona Ganguly and her troupe’s Durga, Delhi-based Barkha Tanvir’s solo, duets by Ritika Mandal and Shibani Parija and many more performances won appreciation of the audience.

The artistes staged a variety of abhinayas composed by legends such as Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Debaprasad Das and Pankaj Charan Das. There were also a series of pallavis or intricate pure dance recitals.

Senior dancer Rupashree Mohapatra, a disciple of the first Odissi guru Pankaj Charan Das, also performed at the festival on the concluding day.

She presented a Krishna leela. Among dancers from other countries were Shalini Patnaik, Alyssa Sahu, Arundhati Chakraborty, Nehhari Das, Sibani Das, Jessica Borale, Ambica Routray, Urvasi group, Jeevika Bhat, Simantee Mitra Behura from USA, Gudnun from Germany, Chisato Mura from Japan, Chandrika Sivalingam from Malaysia, Sabina Sen from Poland, Sumoyee Mukherjee and Sanatani Rombala from Italy.

“It was an exciting and wonderful experience to be amid passionate dancers from various parts of the world,” said Chisato from Japan.

None of the dancers, who took part in 2011 and 2012, were repeated this year. The festival entered into its eight edition this year and showcased nine solo dances, five duets and three group Odissi performances.

“The event is focused on bringing various styles of Odissi dancers from across the globe together, so that there is a certain uniformity in the presentation of many segments of the dance form,” said Ratikant Mohapatra, well-known dancer choreographer and a member of the selection panel for the festival.

Culture director Sushil Kumar Das, who is also the chief executive officer of the Odissi Research Centre, said the festival also aimed to provide a stage to the Odissi dancers from across the world to present their art in the land of Odissi.

“We thus increased the number of days of the festival from three to five this year,” he said.