Classical genres perform to backdrop of dance immortalized on stone - Taalam: column by Leela Venkataraman

Come December and it is time for the magnum opus dance celebration at Konark, when the quiet tourist township surrounding the celebrated temple of the Sun God, sees a rush of high profile activity, with visitors of all denominations descending, to witness not just the dance festival but also the activities surrounding it, like the annual Sand Art festival. Alongside is a highly trumpeted, popular late night event, much patronized by the hoi polloi, comprising music, dance and drama.

Hosted by the Odisha Tourism Department Corporation in conjunction with the Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi, the programing of the five day fare (Dec 1 - 5), ensuring understandably, a major share of this dance patronage to its own classical dance of Odissi, has an established convention of one Odissi group recital on one half of every evening of the festival with the other featuring a dance genre from outside the State. Mushrooming Odissi bodies in the State notwithstanding, the five year gap in festival participation insisted upon down the line, poses challenges in ensuring Odissi groups of standard. 

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