Pragjyoti International Dance Festival

The 6th Pragjyoti International Dance Festival brought down the curtains with its final round of performances at Siva Dol today, amidst roaring applauds of the audience, reverberating with music and mesmerizing dance forms. 

Dancers from across India and abroad took the gathered audience to a whole new world of gusto and enthusiasm on the last two days of the festival within the premises of the enchanting heritage site
Siva Dol.

Showcasing a kaleidoscope of the world famous artists, PIDF left the spectators spellbound with the mesmerizing performance and created a harmonious milieu at the grandiose Siva Dol on the concluding day of the 6-day classical dance extravaganza ‘Pragjyoti International Dance Festival’.

The vibrant festivity and biggest-ever classical dance extravaganza ‘Pragjyoti International Dance Festival’ organized by Kalpa, a Society for Promotion of Literature, Art, Culture and Social Harmony; is an initiative of using dance as a medium towards revisiting the heritage of Assam and protecting the bounties of nature conferred upon the region.

Hon’ble Minister of Tourism and Transport, Shri Chandan Brahma inaugurated the last phase of festival here at Siva Dol by lighting up the ceremonial lamp on Wednesday.

The last day of the festival witnessed spellbinding Bharatnatyam by Aleksandra Michalska from Poland along with captivated and fascinating performances including Mohiniattam by Swapna Raju, Bangalore, Kuchipudi by Sreelaksmy Govardhan, Kerala, Sattriya by Dimpi Sonowal and Rimpi Sonowal, Guwahati and Manipuri by Bibhul Sinha and group from Guwahati.

The opening day treated the classical dance enthusiasts of Sivasagar with melodious Gayan Bayan by performers of Titabor’s Bogiai Elengi Sattra, intangible traversed Bharatnatyam by Renjith Babu and Vijna Vasudevan from Chennai, the fascinating expressions of Kathak by the disciples of Kathak guru Marami Medhi from Guwahati along with beautiful dancers Sanatani Rombola from Italy and Elena Knyazeva from Russia performing Odissi in front of majestic and illuminated Siva Dol.

The event is an annual feature by Kalpa society held in association with the Sivasagar District Administration, Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) (Ministry of External Affairs, Govt of India), Assam Tourism Development Corporation Limited, Directorate of Cultural Affairs (Govt. of Assam) and Sub-Divisional Office- Bokakhat. The festival is powered by ERD Foundation.

The festival in responding to the cause of the Land and its History, offered a tribute to the contribution of the Ahom rule towards society and culture of Assam by hosting the festival in the cultural site of Siva Dol, Sivasagar sculpted and spaced by the aesthetic vision of the Ahoms.
Through the movements of Dance, the Pragjyoti International Dance festival aimed to reach out to the world sharing the glory of Assam - the land and its history - with the kinetics of Indian Dance Traditions.

On the success of the international dance festival Sattriya danseuse Anwesa Mahanta, Joint Secretary of Kalpa & Festival Director of PIDF says, “We are extremely happy and besieged with the awe-inspiring response of the audience and enormous support of the government bodies and our sponsors this year. The ‘Pragjyoti International Dance Festival’ this year has become the center of attraction for all the classical dance and music lovers of Assam. PIDF is a festival of the people, carried forward over the years with their continued support and participation, and designed for highlighting the aspects of our vibrant culture and heritage. We used this festival as a platform to express our concern towards various issues of Assam and the north-eastern region.”

“Our dance festival is an attempt to promote the intangible heritage of classical arts among the younger generation.  Dance is an interdisciplinary area that requires a holistic appraisal of literature, philosophy, history, science, music, painting, sculpture, yoga, spirituality, religion, art and so on. 6th Pragjyoti International Dance Festival was one such attempt to showcase Indian classical dance with its holistic understanding of time, space and sound and the interpretations of human mind and body to the context of Assamese heritage, history and its nature and we are happy on the success of the festival. With a hope of creating similar magic next year KALPA once again thank all its supporters”, added Anwesa.

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