Four-year-old Srinika Purohit performs at the dance festival in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 25: Over 250 exponents of Odissi from across the world assembled in the city at an eight-day festival celebrating the spiritualistic essence.

The dance festival began with an impressive performance by the oldest Odissi exponent, 80-year-old Minati Mishra, and concluded today with a dance recital by the youngest dancer at the festival, four-year-old Srinika Purohit from Bangalore.

With her solo recital that paid tribute to Lord Shiv, the octogenarian once again proved that age is just a number for a dancer. On the other hand, kid Srinika’s performance was an ovation to Lord Ganesh. From her facial expressions to body movements, the little dancer’s performance was very well received.

Dancers from 14 nations that included Bangladesh, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, USA and Ukraine performed at the festival. The enthusiasm with which the dancers presented their recitals bears testimony to the craze of the dance form beyond the borders.

Russia-based dancer Natalia Belchenko gave a stupendous performance in the event. A follower of Guru Surendra Nath Jena’s style of Odissi, she believes that dance is an art understandable without speaking.

“For me, Odissi is a way to describe not only my emotions, but also my perception of the world coupled with philosophical reflections. It attracts me for its deep emotional and substantive content. I am extremely happy to perform at this place since this dance form originated from Odisha,” said the dancer.

Budding Odissi dancers from Bengal, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and Delhi were also seen at the festival.

The festival featured performances by a number of Odissi stalwarts such as Aruna Mohanty, Meera Das and Sujata Mohapatra.

A major highlight of the festival was performances by emerging Odissi dancers Leena Mohanty, Rahul Acharya, Lingaraj Pradhan and Sonali Mohapatra. All of them have won the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Prativa Puraskar.

Hosted by Samskritiki, a 25-year-old cultural organisation, the festival aims to unite the Odissi dancers based in various parts of the country and abroad and encourage them to discover the cultural roots of the dance tradition.