National Classical Dance Academy, Channnrayapatna(Karnataka) organised the 8th edition of All India Classical Dance Festival at Mysore Auditorium in Mumbai on 4th and 5th February. The festival caught the attention of dancers from all over the country, mainly from southern India.
The festival was inaugurated by Bharatanatyam exponent Madhuri Prathap, who is the state president of Mumbai National Classical Dance Academy. This is an initiative to encourage young upcoming dancers by providing them with a platform. National Classical Dance Academy is headed by accomplished Bharatanatyam exponent Swati Bhardwaj and the chief guests of the festival were Bharatanatyam exponent and arts visionary Guru Anil Kumar Singh, Vinitha Nair, Amarnath Ghosh and Ajay Kumar from Vijayawada.
Speaking on the occasion, Guru Anil Kumar Singh said it is necessary to involve more of local talent, as there was hardly any participant from Mumbai and the Mumbai dancers were not even aware of such a festival due to lack of proper publicity. Anil Kumar Singh along with Madhuri Prathap performed recently at the Kalingawan festival in Bhubaneshwar which was lauded by everyone.
In the two days festival, it was tiring for the organisers as there were several participants and many of them were performing for the first time and were quite excited about their participation. There were few dancers who were professionals, while most of them were amateurs. Chennai based Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi exponent Amarnath Ghosh performed on both the days, winning appreciation for his performance. Vijayawada based Kuchipudi exponent Ajay Kumar’s students won praise for their pleasing performance. On the whole, it was an interesting initiative to encourage young talent.
