THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The annual Nishagandhi dance festival came to a colourful close here in the city. The concluding day saw amazing performances of Nangyarkoothu, Koodiyattam, Odissi and Samudranadanam. The day’s programmes began with a Nangyarkoothu presentation by a team led by Kalamandalam Sindhu. Two rare Kathakali and Kutiyattam performances were the highlights of the day. Kamsavadham Nangyarkoothu and Jatayuvadhangam Kutiyattam received great appreciation from connossieurs who had assembled to see the rare performances.
Events at the stage started with Sujata Mohapatra’s Odissi. It was a rare performance in which the artist presented a compilation of four different compositions. Sujata received a thumping applause at the end of the programme.
The festival ended with a Samudranadanam performance by Madhu Gopinath and Vakkom Sajeev. The presentation titled ‘The Cosmic Dance of Shiva’ was a capturing show which depicted various forms and moods of Lord Shiva.
The ‘Cosmic Dance of Shiva’ has enthralled audiences across the world. The event also hosted iconic dancers like Aruna Mohanty, Neena Prasad, Uma Murali, Lima Das, Geetha Chandran and Darshana Jhaveri.
Success saga
With curtains falling down on the seven-day Nishagandhi festival, Tourism Department officials had reasons to cheer as it successfully organised the programme without minimum glitches. The marketing section of tourism department was in-charge of the fest while KTDC arranged the stage, lighting and sound.
A committee comprising of Sunil Kothari, V S Sharma, tourism secretary V Venu and tourism director U V Jose chose the artists and performances.
The seven-day Kathakali festival arranged along with the main event, grabbed eyeballs with the quality of the performances.The seven-day event which brought great performances and artists was unique as the tourism Department took a very bold decision to make the festival exclusive for dance this time.
“The event which is almost three decades old started as a dance festival but later music too became a part of the programme. The decision to make the event exclusive for dance again was a move which added to the lustre of the festival,” officials said. Even as the city is awaiting the next Nishagandhi dance fest, the tourism department is already making plans to make next year a grand success.