The world-famous Khajuraho temples could not contain themselves in the sweltering weather of Phagun. The Khajuraho dance festival has added stars to the beauty of these temples. When the dancers and dancers dance on the wide platform built between the temples of Jagdambi and Kandariya Mahadev, it seems that the love statues carved in the stones of the temples have left their place and come to dance. People feel the same feeling every day. On the third day also the devotees had the same experience. Basant aur Phagun mano yahan bahar and Holi songs, that was indeed the feeling when Pratisha, Himanshi Katragadda, Aarti Nair and dancers from Kadamba Center for Dance appeared on the stage.
The third day of the function started with Sattriya dance by Pratisha Suresh. Sattriya is about 500 years old classical dance form. Pratisha very easily included in the dance the feelings of nature being happy along with the gopis on Krishna’s arrival in Vrindavan. The grand form of Shri Krishna was also presented in the ceremony. It was taken from the Bhishmaparva of the Assamese Mahabharata. When Arjuna is despondent on seeing his loved ones in the battlefield, then Shri Krishna shows him his great form and preaches. Pratisha presented this story with great enthusiasm with different expressions. In these productions styles of music like Dhura Bana, Theo Patan etc. were used. Dhirendra Seknidhara in singing, Bhaskarjit Phukan on flute, Govind Dey on Sarinda and Hemant Phukan on Taal.
In the second performance, Himansi Katragadda and Aarti Nair presented a duet of Kuchipudi and Bharatnatyam dance. Both of them performed on Ardhanarishwara Stotram by Adi Shankaracharya. This presentation of different ragas of Carnatic style bound in ragamalika and taal malika was overwhelming. Lord Shankar is half in the form of Ardhanarishwar Shiva and half in the form of Parvati, which is the form of Shivshakti . In this form, Shiva inspired Brahmaji to create a procreative creature. Himansi and Aarti performed it very well with their sublime choreography and organic movements. The music composition of the presentation was done by Shweta Prasad.
Aarti and Himansi’s next performance was Jaydevkrit Ashtapadi. In this, both of them presented the sublime form of Radha-Krishna’s love with their expressions. Radha’s friends left her at a place, she is engrossed in Krishna’s love, Krishna comes and talks lovingly to Radha. In this presentation set in Adi Taal, both of them filled a lot of color with their organ and foot movements. The dance ends with Tarangam. A dance performance was performed on the composition “Jai-Jai Durga Devi…”, in which steps were performed in sync with the rhythm by trapping the edge of the plate in the feet. It had music composition by Shweta Prasad and dance composition by B. Sudhir Raw Garu.
The third day’s meeting ended with a Kathak performance by the artists of Kadamba Center for Dance. The group included Rupanshi Kashyap, Mithali Dhruv, Manasi Modi, Abhishek Khinhi, Nirjari Vyas, Vaishnavi Vakil, Sunidhi Gemawat, and Dhara Banera. The dance started with the produce. In this performance, the dancers weave several patterns. Dance was performed on Suvarna on the occasion of Amrit Mahotsav of India’s independence. These artists gave an excellent presentation on Brahmanand’s composition – Shyam Salona. The dance ended with the performance of various laykaris in Tarana.
