Swati Tirunal Sketch By S. Rajam

Konark Festival

These days many dance festivals are being conducted in open air venues but what sets apart one of these, the Konark Dance and Music Festival, is its setting. The Natya Mandap, a stage of stone, admeasuring 16.75m by 16.75m (55 feet x 55 feet), is situated on the sand dunes, two kilometres from the famous Konark Sun temple. Surrounded by stands of casuarina, it has an azure sky for its vast canopy. Here it is that performers representing the different danceforms of the country, and its musical variety, present an artistic panorama each year. Neither grammar nor technique is important; what casts a spell on the audience are the visuals traversing the vast stage in rhythmic movements.