Khajuraho fest day 3: Kathak casts a magical spell, Sattriya steals hearts

Bhopal: With each passing day, the Khajuraho Dance Festival, organised by department of culture, MP and Ustad Allauddin Khan Sangeet Evam Kala Academy, is upping the benchmark of excellence. Keeping up with this beautiful tradition, the ongoing event at UNESCO world Heritage Site in Khajuraho, Chhhatarpur district, on Wednesday saw some more blissful dance portrayals. The day certainly belonged to Padma Bhushan Kumudini Lakhia’s troupe, whose Kathak recital was nothing short of symphony in style and poetry in form. Dressed in fluid attire, Kumudini’s troupe danced to perfection while treading the intricate path of technique that was beautifully merged with innovation and improvisation. The audience admired the graceful hand moves, precise footwork and bewitching abhinaya of the graceful dancers, who ruled the vast stage from the word ‘go.’ Earlier, it was Sattriya presentation that stole several hearts, effortlessly. A tradition that is said to be around five centuries old, Sattriya has had to fight a long-drawn battle to get recognition as a classical art form. When Pratisha Suresh took centre-stage to present her Sattriya moves to perfection, the audience enjoyed every bit of the celestial experience. Dance presentations of Himansee Katragadda’s Kuchipudi and Arti Nayar’s Bharatnatyam was also appreciated a lot by the audience, wherein both the skilled dancers took the onlookers along on a spiritual voyage of diverse art forms, while showcasing their distinct features separately and in unison. No wonder then, they were showered with a lot of love by all those who were watching them perform, live.