Konark Festival: Illeana Citaristi & Saswat Joshi Steal The Show With ‘Refugee’

Konark: The fourth day of Konark Dance Festival saw some captivating new choreography in Sattriya and Odissi.

Sattriya exponent Dr. Anwesa Mahanta started with ‘Gayan Bayan’ followed by ‘Vandana’ and ‘Ramdani’, which marked invocatory submission to Lord Jagannath. The tenets of Bhakti were vividly illustrated in the next choreography, ‘Bhagabata Dasha Lakshana’ based on Srimad Bhagabat, the spiritual text. The rendition created a serene and scintillating ambience paving way for the Odissi recital.

Dr. Illeana Citaristi came up with a new choreography, ‘Refugee’, which attempted to bridge the gap between the world of artistic expression and the grim social reality of the world. The performance concluded with ‘Ganga Yamuna’ based on the Sanskrit treatise ‘Raghuvansa’ of poet Kalidas

The evening’s programme commenced with the lighting of the ceremonial lamp by Chief Justice of Orissa High Court Kalpesh Satyendra Jhaveri, Chairman State Finance Commission  R. N. Senapati, Chief Temple Administrator Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra in the presence of Jt. Director Tourism Utpal Kumar Pati, Dr. Bijaya Kumar Jena and Dr. Sangeeta Gosain.

On the other hand, artists sculpted their thoughts on women empowerment at the International Sand Art Festival on Chandrabhaga sea beach.