(From top) Odissi dancer Yalulva Vironika from Russia, Bharatnatyam dancer from Chennai Vijna Vasudevan and Mahari dancer Rupashree Mohapatra perform on stage. Telegraph pictures.

Bhubaneswar, Sept.22: Devdasi National Dance Festival, the only dance festival in the country that showcases temple ritual dances kicked-off yesterday at the Jaydev Bhawan.

On the first day of the three-day festival, the talents of five dancers from various parts of the country and abroad were seen.

The Devdasi dance form, once conducted within the temple premises to appease the gods, is slowly fading away.

In most cases it is the bad treatment towards the dancer by the society that has compelled authorities to stop the tradition. Also, at the Jagannath temple of Puri, the last Devdasi, Sashimani Devi has not adopted any girl to continue the tradition.

These dance forms are unique and have their own splendour.

Keeping alive the Mahari dance (dance of the Jagannath temple Devdasi), danseuse Rupashree Mohapatra has been actively performing all over the country. She began the dance festival here with a recital on the ritual of ‘Kunja seva’ that used to be presented at the Jhulan festival of Jagannath temple. Mohapatra left her audience spellbound with her performance of the Sringara rasa .

Manipuri dancer Warda Rihab from Bangladesh depicted the Radha-Krishna romance beautifully.

Her Nrutyabhinaya Radha Abhisaar was a touching tale of the love-stricken Radha who took all pains to meet Krishna by taking the help of a friend and hiding from the eyes of her relatives. Rihab beautifully illustrated the anecdote with graceful movements. Her vibrant performance depicting a Shiva Tandava brought thunderous applause to the promising dance artiste.

Russia’s Yakulva Vironika also presented a recital with brilliant facial expressions on the abhinaya kede chhanda jane lo based on raga Mishra kaafi on Rupak taal.

Her first piece, a mangalacharan Ashtashambhu on raga Malakosh and Triputa taal was also praiseworthy. The dance was choreographed by Guru Debaprasad Das and the music was composed by Guru Ramahari Das.

Bharatnatyam dancer Vijna Vasudevan from Chennai began her performance with a Ganesh Bandana and continued with a Shudha Nritya and Shiva Bandana abhinaya piece Kirtanam.

Calcutta-based Odissi dancer Pompi Paul enchanted the audience with her elegant dancing style and graceful moves. She performed a Shringara Pallavi on Raga Ananda Bhairavi choreographed by Guru Poushali Mukherjee. Paul also performed a touching Odissi piece on Sakhi he Kesi Madana Mudaram from Gita Govinda on a pahadi raga.

“This is the fifth edition of our dance festival. We are trying to get people of the state to show interest towards all classical dances,” said secretary of organisers, Devdasi Nrutya Mandir, Jagabandhu Jena.

Odissi dancers Purnata Mohanty, Sanjay Behera, Sonali Mohapatra, Kuchipudi artiste Srilaxmi Govardhan from Kerala and Sattriya artiste Sangita Phukon from Guwahati performed at Jaydev Bhawan today.