TNI Bureau: Sanskriti Dance and Music Academy organised its 11th Annual Dance Festival, “Taal Tarang”, with grandeur at Lajpat Bhawan Auditorium in Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi, on Monday.

The colourful cultural event featured performances by around 23 artistes, ranging from emerging talents to established performers. The academy, founded in 2010 by renowned Odissi Guru Srimanta Kumar Mishra, aims to preserve, promote and propagate Odissi dance through authentic and intensive training.

The festival began with the ceremonial lighting of the lamp by distinguished guests, including senior journalist and Chairman of World Odisha Society Kishore Dwibedi, poetess Preetima Khandelwal and administrator Sobhan Kar. The guests praised the academy’s efforts in promoting Odisha’s rich art, heritage and Lord Jagannath culture in the national capital.

The programme featured a series of Odissi and folk dance performances, including Mangalacharan, Saveri Pallavi, Basant Pallavi, Dasavatar, Shri Ram Chandra Stuti, Bengali folk dance and the popular Sambalpuri dance Rangabati.

A major highlight of the evening was the Odissi duet performance of Saveri Pallavi by Guru Srimanta Kumar Mishra and his daughter and disciple Aadyasha Mishra. Their performance received wide appreciation from the audience for its graceful abhinaya, synchronised movements and energetic footwork.

Several artistes, including Supriya Visiyait, Akanksha Visiyait, Satakshi Tripathy, Samridhi Koul, Rakhi Prakash, Eeti Sahni, Ipshita Khandelwal, Kavya Goyal, Koyesha Pradhan, Aaradhyaa Nayak, Alisha Anjali Sahoo and others, also performed during the festival.

The event was smoothly anchored by Ritika Dhar and attended by several prominent personalities from the cultural and social fields.