Anklets will speak at the Town Hall on Saturday. For a city starved of live entertainment for over a year, nothing could sound sweeter.
The regional dance festival, being organised by the Thrissur-based Kalanidhi Charitable Society, is probably the first of its kind to be staged in Kozhikode after the COVID-19 outbreak. It is the second of a series of three festivals.
“The first one was held at Thiruvananthapuram last Sunday,” says Jyothish Thekkedath, Kalanidhi’s founder. “We will conclude the series at Thrissur on April 18.”
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He hopes the festival will bring back artistes and audiences back to the venues. “During the lockdown, several dance and music festivals were conducted online; we too did, but of course you can’t compare it with the real thing,” he says. “Performing artistes like musicians and dancers have had a tough time during the lockdown as their source of income dried up completely.”
The highlight of the Kozhikode edition of the festival could be the Mohiniyattam recital by Irinjalakuda Krishnakumar, one of the few male practitioners of Kerala’s own classical dance. “Through our festival, we are giving opportunities to some upcoming dancers too,” says Mr. Thekkedath. “Our festival was well received at Thiruvananthapuram and the dancers at Kozhikode too are excited that they have something to look forward to after a long time.”