Odissi dancers Kanduri Charan Behera aperform at the International Odissi Dance festival on Saturday. Telegraph pictures

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 30: The kaleidoscopic performances of Odissi at the weeklong International Odissi Dance Festival concluded on Saturday.

Reputed names as well as young dancers presented their recitals throughout the dance gala organised by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Research Centre under the aegis of Odisha Tourism. Some striking performances made the final day enjoyable.

Eminent danseuse Kiran Segal was the highlight of the concluding evening. The noted dancer presented an abhinaya ‘Rashe harimiha bihita bilasam’ from the Gita Govinda followed by popular traditional song ‘Bata chhada sughata nagara’ written by poet Banamali. Her repertoire left viewers spellbound.

 

New Delhi-based Reela Hota’s enactment of ‘Nirjharare swapna bhanga’, ‘Kuru yadu nandana’ by Pranati Mohanty from Angul followed by the duet performance of Minati Mahapatra and Anindita Parida, who presented Sibastakam portraying the different aspects of Shiv and then Kalavati Pallavi set to Tal Tripota made for a delightful watch for connoisseurs. Senior dancer Ratikanta Mohapatra gave an interesting performance depicting the episode of Sita’s marriage and killing of demon duo Khara-Dushan from Tulasi Das’ Ramayan set to Rag Malika and Tal Malika. The music was composed by Pradeep Das and dance was choreographed by Mohapatra.

Among other impressive performances during the evening were those by Rina Jana’s abhinaya, group performance by Suravi, Bhubaneswar and students of Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya who presented ‘Sambhabami yuge yuge’ depicting the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu set to Rag Kalyani and Tal Jhampa.

Earlier, the afternoon session featured Dibyashree Panda from Bhubaneswar. This talented youngster held the attention of the viewers with her effortless portrayal of expressions. Baishali Kolaya and Arpita Venkatatesh from Calcutta, Sharanya Mukhopadhyay from USA, Moonmoon Chakrabarty from Cuttack, Rajiv Bhattacharya from Calcutta also regaled the audience. One of the most attractive performances of the evening was by well-known Odissi dancer Kanduri Charan Behera from Bhubaneswar, who presented a beautiful repertoire.

The tourism department officials said the festival was a success with lots of people coming in. “We had close to 10,000 domestic and 246 foreign audiences over the week,” said an official.

Over the seven days, many Odissi dancers from 10 odd countries gave their performances at the festival.

“We are glad such a big platform is available for us to perform before legendary dancers who are kind enough to guide us and appreciate us,” said Maria Laura Valdez, a dancer from Peru.