PRESENTED HERE ARE PHOTOS OF THE  FAMOUS ORISSA DANCE FESITVAL-2015, HELD ANNUALLY IN THE FIRST WEEK OF DECEMBER.WE FOUR- ME,.MY BETTER HALF,SRI GPRAO, AN OLD AND DEAR FRIEND, AND MY GRANDSON PRUDHVI,A BUDDING PHOTOGRAPHER SPENT A GLORIOUSLY ENJOYABLE WEEK THE WEATHER WAS SALUBRIOUS  KONARK TEMPLE IS MAGNIFICIENT AND MAJESTIC,WE MET OUR FOREST FRIENDS FROM ORISSA.ALL THE CREDIT FOR ALL THE PHOTOS GOES TO PRUDHVI.

 0UR GROUP[FRONT ROW L2R]MRSRAO,MRS MOHAPATRA,MRS.JAGDEV
[BACK ROW L2R]FAIZUDDIN AHMED,GPRAO,RKRAO,JAGDEV,MOHAPATRA,MRS AHMED.

KONARK SUN TEMPLE WITH THE OPEN AIR AUDITORIUM IN THE FOREGROUND.
One of the most stunning monuments of religious significance, a true masterpiece of architecture proudly stands in the form of Sun Temple at Konark. A culmination of Oriya architecture, the temple is a wonderful place as the language of stone defeats the human language here. Built in 13th century by King Narasimhadeva, the temple is designed in the shape of a colossal chariot with seven horses and twelve wheels, carrying the sun god, Surya, across heavens[orissa tourism brochure]

Festival Programme Details

The konark Festival is an Annual five-day-long presentation of indian classical dances performed by celebrated dancers of the country in an open air auditorium, with the world  famous Sun Temple as the backdrop..It enthralls the connoissures,  as well as the lay public and is held every year from 1st to 5th December.
  programme  from 1st to 5th December,2015[6.00PMto8.30PM]
 1st.Dec.ODISSI -sri Ratikant Mohapatra,Srjan,Bhubaneswar.
              MANIPURI   -Jawaharlal Dance Academy,Manipur
 2ndDec.SATTRIYA-shri Jatin goswamy,Sattriya Academy,Assam.
              ODISSI-Smt Suprava Misra,Aum Arts Academy,Ahmedabad.
3rd Dec.ODISSI-GKCM odissi Research center,bhubaneswar.
               KUCHIPUDI-Smt.Vijayanthi kasi,Shambhavi Dance Ensemble,
               Bangalore.

4th DEc.BHARATNATYAM-Smt Sainath,Hyderabad.

              ODISSI-Shri Ashish Kumar Das,Odissi Nrutya mandal,cuttack.
5th Dec. ODISSI-Smt.Aruna Mohanty,Orissa Dance Academy,Bhubaneswar.
               KATHAK-Smt.Rajashree Shirke.Mumbai.

Our Itinerary

We are a group of four;me and my better-half,grandson Prudhvi Mitra and a friend shri GPRao.we arrived in Bhuvaneswar by flight and drove to Konark[63k,1.30hrs.]]We stayed in a small but clean and neat place by the name Surya Inn,300 meters from the konark temple;the orissa tourist corporation has a 48 room Yatri Nivas right opposite the dance venue;the place is good,but booking has to be done well in advance of the function,say 3 months.
Those desirous of attending the five day dance performances should stay in Konark;however,
since the dances are only in the evenings,the rest of the day can be used to visit other places.
  The international Sand Art Exibition is held during the same period at Chandrabagha beach,two kilometers from konark;This is worth a visit.on the other days we visited by taxi Sri Jagannathji Temple in Puri[32km],peace pagoda and asokan rock edict,lingaraja temple in Bhubaneswar[63km] and had a glimpse of the Irrawadi dolphins in chilika lake.[65km]
We could not attend the 1st December programme as we reached konark late in the evening, but we attended the programme from 2nd to 5th,in the evenings from 6.00 pm to 8.30 pm and visiting the places described above in the daytime.

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ODISSI-Bruhannala Episode from Mahabharat

The Bruhannala episode from mahabharat is ideally suited for a dance drama.
In the epic Arjun goes to Indra for obtaining a divine weapon;Tha damsels of Alakapuri welcome Arjun through dance; finding Arjun fascinated by the dance,Indra directs Urbasi to teach dance to Arjun;while teaching him she falls in love but is rejected by Arjun.In a fit of anger Urbasi curses
him to turn into an eunuch;this curse turns into blessing when the pandavas had to spend one year incognito in the court of Birat;Arjun as Bruhannala teaches dance to princess Uttara.Kichaka casts
 an evil eye on Draupadi serving in the court as Sairindri;Bhima kills kichaka by subterfuge.
This episode was presented through an elegently composed  choreography.

Arjun as Bruhanala

KUCHIPUDI -It is an Indian classical dance originating from the village kuchipudi in Andhra Pradesh.According to legend this dance-drama was founded by Sidhendra yogi.The present  performance is based on the life of Rani Rudrama devi,of the Kakatya dynasty,whose rule is considered the golden age.

Kanykumari-This is the story of the eternal kanya sent by the gods to the earth to destroy the demonBanasura.

Bharata Natyam by Rajeswari sainath and party 

ODISSI-

ODISSI-KRISHANA SARANYAM