| Rajasrhan
Dance Festival
The evenings at Mamallapuram
will reverberate with music, dance and various art forms unique to the
different States of the country, courtesy a month-long cultural extravaganza-
Indian Dance Festival-2009 which began with all pomp and glory here on
Thursday.
Contrary to the tradition
of lighting a lamp and declaring an event open, sticking to the true spirit
of the festival, Tourism Minister N Suresh Rajan, along with officials
and a group of foreign tourists took to the stage and struck a big drum,
announcing the start of the mega fest. No boring speeches were made and
the guests and hosts stood before the raised platform to get a glimpse
of the rich tradition that the country has on offer.
With the ancient rock
engravings as the backdrop, the first day saw artists from the State taking
the audience to a state of trance with their performances. The Tamil Panpattu
Sangamam began with a Bharatanatyam performance, which was followed by
Thiruvasagam and Thirupavai – an art form rendering devotional songs. Then
it was time for Poikal Kuthirai or dummy horse dance. The audience could
be seen cheering the artists at every step. The Silambattam – a form of
martial dance also went down well with the audience. The foreign tourists
as well as local people were seen encouraging the many child artists, who
gave a spellbinding performance. The folk dance and Thapattai were also
well received by the audience.
There is more to come,
as the following days will unfold the talents of artists from Rajasthan,
Assam, Gujarat and the like. The fest will conclude on January 25. Last
year 1.26 lakh people came down to see the dance festival, while this year,
the inflow included 2.08 lakh foreign tourists and 14.54 lakh domestic
tourists.
The Tourism department
also informed that during 2008, 17.68 foreign tourists and 562.99 lakh
domestic tourists visited the State
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