Bhubaneswar, Nov. 28: The Sun Temple will reverberate with rhythms of Indian classical music as the Konark festival is set to begin on December 1.
Dancers from across India will perform against the backdrop of the 700-year-old temple at the five-day festival.
More than two-decades old, the festival is one of the most popular cultural events of the state, which is held in the open-air auditorium of the temple.
As many as 10 acclaimed artistes will perform on Indian classical dance forms such as Odissi, kuchipudi, Bharatnatyam, kathak, Manipuri and mohiniyattam.
Odissi veteran Madhavi Mudgal from Delhi will perform with her troupe on the inaugural evening. After her performance, Kishore Musolkanti and troupe from Chennai will perform kuchipudi.
The mohiniyattam dance troupe led by Nina Prasad and a group from Kerala, Bharatnatyam recitals by A. Lakshmanaswamy from Chennai, Manipuri dance by Priti Patel from Calcutta and kathak by Asim Bandhu and troupe from Calcutta will perform at the festival.
Odissi dance by well-known artistes, including Meera Das, Jyotsna Sahoo and students of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Research Centre, will also take part at the festival.
"The highlight of this year will be an exhibition depicting the journey the festival. A number of photographs from the start of the festival in 1989 till to date will be showcased," said tourism minister Ashok Panda.
The festival has been attracting foreigners as well as national tourists over years. The tourism department has also taken steps to ensure demonetisation hassles does not stand as a hindrance to the tourist inflow.
The international sand art festival on the Chandrabhaga beach will be hosted simultaneously with the Konark festival. About 500 delegates from the Make in Odisha conclave will attend the festival on the inaugural day.
With sand sculptor Sudarshan Patnaik as the brand ambassador, each day of the festival will have a particular theme. The themes will be - Make in Odisha, Spirit of Odisha, climate change, save the sea and universal access to all.
The festival will also have five international participants from USA, UK, Singapore, Netherlands and Russia. These apart, there will be 62 sand artists from all across the country.
"We want to encourage women and differently-abled sand sculptors. So, participants include 15 female artists and two differently-abled persons," Panda said.
