Rourkela: Eight participants of all age groups from across India and three from Malaysia, Nepal and Russia have arrived for the International Classical Dance Festival, the first in the city, that started here on Friday.
"Being our first attempt at organising the festival, it was difficult to attract artistes. Still a good number has turned up and we expect to get more foreign artistes presenting Indian classical dances over the next few years," said Subrat Bhuyan, founder secretary of Nrutya Madhuram, the organisers of the fest.
The show begins every day at 10am and continues till 10pm. The festival was inaugurated by Rourkela Development Authority chairman Sarada Nayak. "This is certainly a big attempt to bring so many artistes under one roof. I must request the citizens to come and enjoy it in large numbers."
Hiralal Mohapatra, Rourkela Steel Plant general manager, said: "Rourkela is certainly keeping the flag of culture flying in the state."
Though the audience was sparse, numbering around 150, they came for the their love for the artform. "I am here because I love dance and want to see different forms on one platform," said Sajesh, a PhD scholar from NIT, Rourkela.
Organisation president Jagjit Singh said: "We are disappointed with crowd response, but the audience cannot be blamed because we could not focus on advertising."
The first evening witnessed Bharatnatyam by Soma Mandal from Calcutta. "There is more to come in the next two days," said Buyan. The festival will have a presentation of all the eight forms of Indian classical dances. The festival concludes on June 24.