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Dhauli Mahotsav from December 12

BHUBANESWAR: The sixth Dhauli Mahotsav, an annual national festival of arts, would be under way at the foothills of the historic Dhauli Hills near here from December 12 to 14. City-based Odisha Dance Academy (ODA) hosts the event.

ODA secretary and noted Odissi dancer Aruna Mohanty told The Hindu that the festival was conceived by ODA’s founder Guru Gangadhar Pradhan to highlight Dhauli as a heritage site and promote various Indian arts traditions. “We encourage participation of all sorts of arts practices in this festival with special focus on Orissa,” she explained and added that though several Indian classical dance styles are being staged, the thrust this year has been on dying folk arts traditions of Orissa.

The festival will feature Moghul Tamasha of Bhadrak by Badal Sikdar’s troupe, rod-puppet theatre of Keonjhar led by Maguni Charan Kuanr and Prahlad Natak of Ganjam by K.Dasharathi Reddy and troupe which have been endangered folk forms, informed Aruna. Gotipua dance would also be staged during the festival, she said.

Besides Odissi, the festival would witness Bharatnatyam, Kathak and Manipuri dances by some of the best known troupes of the country. The list includes late Rohini Bhate’s famed Nritya Bharati Kathak troupe from Pune, eminent Bharatnatyam artiste Saroja Vaidyanathan and troupe from Delhi and Kolkata-based young and acclaimed Manipuri dancer-choreographer Bimbavati Devi.

The Odissi segment would include US-based young Odissi dancer Shibani Patnaik as soloists while three internationally acclaimed troupes would stage group presentations – late Protima Bedi’s Nrityagram dance ensemble of Bengaluru led by Surupa Sen; late Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra’s Srjan dance institution from Bhubaneswar led by Ratikant Mohapatra and host Orissa Dance Academy led by Aruna Mohanty.

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