A dance show at the Vedvyas Sangeet Nrutyostav. Picture by Uttam Kumar Pal

Rourkela, Nov. 4: The 17th Vedvyas Sangeet Nrutyostav, being organised by the Bhanja Kala Kendra, is drawing dance and music lovers here every evening.

This year the festival offers a collage of spectacles such as Odissi, Kathak, Chhau, Daskathia, Gumura, Sambalpuri, Kajari from Bihar, Manipuri and Bhangra and Giddha from Punjab. There’s something in store for the connoisseurs of music as well. There will be a violin concert, Carnatic music along with Odia folk.

Though held on an open-air stage, the evening chill has not deterred people from coming to watch the cultural extravaganza. They have been supporting it since the last 16 years.

The opening day saw a commendable performance by students of a dance school. An Odissi dance drama that depicted offerings to the Sun god won the appreciation of the audience. Later, Sameer from Patna performed Kajari dance and team from Gurudaspur in Punjab performed Bhangra.

On the second day, a guitar concert was followed by a spellbinding dance performance by Poushali Chatterjee from Calcutta. Manipuri dance was a real treat for the audience. Since the dance itself deals with a lot with facial expressions with subtle body movements, the audience appreciated it. Sahi Nrytya from Raghurajpur in Puri also caught the imagination of the audience. It was followed Giddha from the group from Gurudaspur that also performed Bhangra.

“I found them to be more suited for Giddha than Bhangra,” said Gurmeet Singh, a local Sikh who seemed to have thorough understanding of this folk dance.

The third day is generally reserved for vocal and instrumental performances. It generally draws less audience and that was visible yesterday.

Guru Ramahari Das from Puri performed some of his older compositions. This was followed by Carnatic violin recital by N Sridhar. His rendition showed why Carnatic music has such a huge fan following and it took the small audience to an altogether different level. “For me, it was like living in different world”, said Shyam Pattnaik.

Another violin concert, Odissi, and Sambalpuri dances are programmed today. The Nrutyostav will culminate tomorrow with Odissi, Kathak, Daskathia and Chhau.

“The organisers need to implement ways to draw more audience, which was there during the initial years,” said Manoranja. Sephali, a dance enthusiast said: “This is certainly a great effort but they have to reinvent the whole concept now. I think instead of five day are a bit too much.”

Gouri Shankar Prasad, CEO of the Rourkela Steel Plant inaugurated the festival. He was accompanied by his wife Manjari Prasad.

The organisers felicitated music exponent Ullas Mahato of Sundergarh, who gave a rare glimpse of his talent on the first day.