Artistes perform at the cultural programme in Puri and (above) Tagore’s play Tasher Desh being staged in Paradip. Picture by Sarat Patra and Telegraph picture

Puri, July 27: A kaleidoscope of art forms is on display in Puri to celebrate the mastery of Tagore’s storytelling and visualisation in his poetry. Organised to observe the 150th birth anniversary of the legendary poet and author, the festival — Tribute — features some of the most-cherished works of the bard in the form of dance and drama.

Inaugurated on Wednesday, the five-day festival at the Muktakasha Rangamancha in the city started off with a Mahari performance by well-known city-based dancer Rupashree Mohapatra who depicted the different ways of worshipping Lord Jagannath.

After the spiritual start, local troupe Rupayan presented an Odissi dance drama Basabadatta, based on Abhisar, the celebrated treatise on a Buddhist monk’s battle between emotional attachment to a dancer and his duty towards his ascetic life. The performance was well paced and the audience appreciated the blend of dance and dramatic expressions.

Theatre troupe Mukti Ra Upaya then presented a play on another work by the author that criticised blind faith towards people pretending as godmen. On Thursday evening, young Gotipua artistes from the city’s Nilakantheswar Gotipua Dance Academy showed their skills in the traditional dance form that emerged from this town hundreds of years ago.

The troupe performed mangalacharan and Bandha Nrutya that involved adventurous stunts and graceful dance moves. The artistes concluded with an item in which they performed Gotipua steps on a poem of Tagore.

Members of Pallavi, a cultural organisation from Delang near Pipili, performed traditional folk dance sequences varying from Dalkhai to Ghumura. The highlight of the second evening was the puppet show by Ajay Panda, Sibanarayan Bhatt and Anapurna Devi in which they performed Tagore’s Kabuliwala.

“The puppet show was amazing, especially because they presented the entire story of Kabuliwala. It was a unique experience to watch a play in which emotions and dialogues were projected perfectly by puppets,” said Parikshit Pratihari, a local resident.

There are many more attractions in store in the following days said the organisers.

“We will try to cover as many works of Tagore as possible, that too in different forms of performing arts, be it dance, drama, puppetry or folk arts,” said Rashmi Ranjan Sinha, secretary of Padmajyoti Cultural Association that has organised the event along with support from the ministry of culture, government of India.