An Odissi performance. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 22: The Konark Dance Festival will feature renowned names from the field of Indian classical dance forms this year. The five-day event will showcase as many forms of classical dance in its 22nd edition, scheduled to begin on December 1.

Odissi artistes of repute will perform at the dance festival every evening. Sharmila Biswas from Calcutta, Bhubaneswar based artistes Pitambar Biswal, Ratikant Mohapatra and troupes from Odissi Research Centre and Malaysian dancer Ramli Ibrahim will perform Odissi.

Among other dance forms, Aditi Mangal Das from New Delhi will perform Kathak, Kishore Musolkanti from Chennai will present Kuchipudi, Nina Prasad from Kerala will perform Mohiniattam while Bharat Natyam will be presented by Chennai group Kalakshetra. Chhau dance will be performed by Sashidhar Acharya from New Delhi.

The annual festival that was launched in 1989, attracts a large number of tourists owing to the venue which has the famous Konark Sun Temple as the backdrop.

“The festival is immensely popular among tourists. Last year more than 8,000 tourists from within the country and close to 400 tourists from abroad attended the event,” said Orissa tourism director H.S. Upadhyay.

Special tour packages have been announced for the Konark festival. A three-night and three-day package priced at Rs 9,325 per head includes accommodation and visit to the festival as well as sight-seeing of major tourist attractions in Bhubaneswar, Konark, Puri and Chilika.

A five-day and five-night package that offers more sight-seeing spots has also been announced and is priced at Rs 14,440.