Jalsa Chandra at Spring Festival in Rourkela. Pictures by Uttam Kumar Pal

Rourkela, March 24: Folk and classical dance lovers of the city were enthralled by the three-day Spring Festival that concluded here last evening.

Starting from Odissi dance staged by a Bhubaneswar-based troupe on the inaugural day to a folk dance performance by Bhawanipatna-based Singari group, the audience was mesmerised by the event, organised by the Music Circle, Rourkela.

Member of the circle Aloka Chand said: “We have around 150 artistes as members from various parts of the country. They belong to various art fields and have created a corpus fund. The interest that we get from the fund helps us felicitate artistes.”

This year, the group honoured Odissi and chhau Guru Niranjan Rout with the Basant samman and theatre artiste and director Dhira Mallick was bestowed with the Muktikanta Natya Samman. Writer Monalishra Mishra was rewarded with the Pravat Nalini Sahitya Samman.

The programme started on Friday evening with Odissi vocal song rendered by Ashalata Sarangi. Besides, an Odissi dance by the Nupur dance troupe followed by a folk dance staged by a socio-cultural organisation of Sundargarh, Mayuree, captivated the crowd.

On Saturday, Kathak exponent Jalsa Chandra of Calcutta staged a performance. Oram Karma Dance, a very popular form of folk dance of local tribal inhabitants, was also performed by a troupe.

The last day saw dance drama Madhu Basant by students of the host organisation followed by Gotipua dance by artistes from the Nilakantheswar Gotipua Gurukula Dance Academy of Brahmagiri in Puri district.

A folk dance performed by artistes of Singari riveted the audience as the final act of the evening before the programme concluded.

“We invite artistes from various parts of the country and they stage their skill here. This function also act as a platform for cultural exchange among the artistes and local people,” said Chand.