“The five day long annual Konark Festival of classical dances,

performed by the celebrated dancers of the country

in an open- air- auditorium

with the famous sun temple at the backdrop

enthralls the connoisseurs of dance

every year from 1^st to 5^th December”

says the Odisha Tourism brochure

To me, it’s a dream.. I never thought I would be in such a beautiful environment witnessing dance

 by great dancers, live. Everything is beautiful… the weather, the place, the people. There were ten teams; two performing every day. One dance was Odissi and one was another traditional form. The dances are performed in an open air auditorium and fortunately, we were able to get seats with a good view of the entire auditorium. For the first time in my life, I set up the stand mounted my camera with the hope of capturing at least some moments of the beautiful dances that I was about to see.

This is what my dance travelogue dream is about… to go to places, watch and appreciate dance forms and styles – whether sculpted, painted or live.. and be a part of this art either as a dancer or as a person documenting it all.

Of all the ten dances my favourite ones were the Odissi performance by Madhavi Mudgal and her team on the first day, Bharatnatyam by Mallika Sarabhai and her team and the collaboration of Odissi by Surupa Sen and her team and Srilankan dancers from Chitrasena dance company on the 4^th day.

Day-1

The first performance was an Odissi dance and it was performed by Madhavi Mudgal and her team. There were 7 dancers apart from her. They performed 4 items.

First was salutation to river Ganga. The graceful movements of the dancers actually made me feel as if I am watching the river ganga flowing sometimes fast and sometimes leisurely.

The second and third items were based on Geetha Govindam and they showed Krishna, Radha and Gopikas in different moods and expressions. The last item was based on more the rhythm and less on expression.

Their costumes were very well colour co-ordinated ranging from red to bronze to gold in silk. Each dancer wore traditional Odissi silver belt on her waist,  one necklace around her neck, one bangle called Kankana on each hand and a traditional white crown, which is called a Mukut. The hair was worn in a bun with white and red flowers decorated around it.

Most of their dances were performed in the third speed/taala.



Their postures and coordination was so perfect that the audience would not know who the main dancer was.

They  had multiple formations and were very fluid.

Their expressions were very beautiful and all of them danced with ease and smile on their faces. The maturity of dancers was very high as they were dancing with their soul in it.

They had a high amount of energy and joy in their dance. I felt very energetic and full of happiness after watching this performance.