After Eiffel Tower, Saswat Joshi picks Colosseum backdrop for Odissi performance

Bhubaneswar: Eminent Odissi dancer Saswat Joshi stepped out of the traditional realm of closed auditorium presentation when he performed on the Dalkhai song with his French students on a railway platform in May 2016. The video of the performance which went viral garnered millions of views.

A year later, Saswat Joshi celebrated the Odisha Dance Week in Paris by performing a Sambalpuri folk dance in front of Eiffel Tower along with other artistes on May 25.

Taking this trend forward, he and danseuse Ileana Citaristi later put up an Odissi performance in front of Colosseum in Rome on July 27.
The initiative is part of his attempt to popularise classical and folk dance forms of Odisha across the globe. “The response to the first performance inspired me to try similar performances to let people across the world a glimpse into our culture. I have a good number of students in Paris and they helped us get the permission to perform in front of the iconic Eiffel Tower. I was amazed by crowd that stopped by to watch the performance,” said the internationally-acclaimed dancer, who is planning more such performances in the days to come.
Burj Khalifa in Dubai and Disney’s Hollywood studio are his next destinations in this mission.
At a time when social networking sites have become the best medium to propagate ideas, Saswat believes that such dance videos can be treasured for eternity.