Bhubaneswar, March 16: To celebrate the everlasting bond between cultures of Odisha and that of the world, a Friendship Festival is being hosted in Puri.

The cultural exchange programme featured artistes from Puri and other countries at the inaugural ceremony held on Sunday evening.

Organised at the Gopinath Gaudiya temple premises on Chakratirtha Road, the annual festival encourages the sharing of art forms among the participants. While Russian artistes usually outnumber those from other countries every year, this time most of the performers are from Canada and USA.

Association Terranation, a cultural outfit from Quebec, Canada, led by Annick Dauphinais presented a dance performance along with budding artistes from Puri. Annick and the group showcased their Odissi skills and dedicated the dance recital to Lord Jagannath. The artistes from the Canadian group said they learnt about Odissi during their visit to Puri many years ago and had pursued their love for Odissi from teachers based in Canada.

'Association Terranation is busy supporting the local traditions, arts, culture, ayurveda, yoga and many other elements of Indian culture for the last ten years in Canada and America,' said Annick. Anuradha Devi, another Canada-based artiste also performed Odissi during the event on Sunday.

Among the local dancers were Debanshi Dash and Punyasloka Mohanty, who performed different Odissi items for the audience. The organisers said the event promotes and inspires cultural exchanges between different various countries. 'This year the interaction is mostly between participants from India and Canada,' said Purnachandra Gochhikar, convener of the Friendship Festival.

The fest also includes a sand art workshop. It would be held on the concluding day on Wednesday. Sand artist Sudam Pradhan will be conducting the workshop at the Puri beach from morning to noon for the participants.

'Visitors to Puri more often than not fall in love with Odia art and craft forms such as Odissi dance, jhoti, patta chitra and palm leaf painting. But because of limited time, we try to introduce them to a few art forms and train them about the basics. At the sand art workshop, I will teach them about different sand types and the basics of how to make sculptures with sand,' said Pradhan, who is also a member of the organising team for the ongoing festival.