Mukteswar Dance Festival - Dr. Sunil Kothari

Hot on the heels of Rang Sopan festival (5 -12 June 2013) held at Bhopal in honour of theatre director Ratan Thiyam, the Mukteswar Dance Festival (Jan 14-16, 2013) was held at Bhubaneswar in the Mukteswar temple complex. Organized by Odisha Tourism Department, Govt. of Odisha with the initiative of Principal Secretary of Tourism and Culture Mr. Ashok Kumar Tripathy, who has since last two years, held various dance festivals successfully including Konark Dance Festival, Dhauli Kalinga Festival, Odissi International Dance Festival, in between Gotipua Festival and various music festivals of different parts of Odisha, with the result that Bhubaneswar in Odisha indeed has become ‘a city of dance festivals.’
I have been attending dance festivals in Bhubaneswar (and also at Cuttack) since last two years and am impressed at the attention given to minutest details personally by Mr. Tripathy, setting a very high standard for mounting dance and music festivals throughout the year with finesse, sophistication and thorough professional approach. Not only is the venue superb, be it Konark, Dhauli, Mukteswar, Raja Rani temples, or Rabindra Mandap, also the ambience is that of a festive mood – thousands of tiny blue lit bulbs, festoons, umbrellas, lamp shades of Pipli village hung tastefully from the branches of the trees on both sides of the streets leading to the venue, landscaping of temple gardens, stage, lighting, sound system, cameras held by DD TV, press photographers sitting in front, not moving all over, taking photos quietly without blocking the view of the audience, good arrangements for seating, good hygienic facilities, clean toilets, enough room for parking vehicles, courteous staff, security guards, ushers, professional comperes in Odiya, English and Hindi, latter by seasoned compere Sadhna Srivastav and for Odiya, Prof. Mrityunjay Mahapatra and E. Srinibas Ghatuary (Milan), with a team of artists including Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra’s son, guru / performer Ratikant Mohapatra, Odissi exponent  and Vice President of Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi, Aruna Mohanty,  Prof . Ram Hari Das, the celebrated vocalist and Professor in Music along with Sangeeta Gosain, reader in music in Utkal University of Culture, Chittaranjan Mallia, Secretary of Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi, photographer Arabinda Mahapatra of Odisha Tourism Dept, polite staff of Odisha Tourism Dept and a host of other volunteers, looking after the needs of performing artists, stage management et al.

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