On Day 2 of NYF, artists from across India present folk dances

Nashik: Artists from various states across the country demonstrated their rich culture and heritage through folk dance at a programme organized at Kalidas Kalamandir in Nashik on Friday.The programme is part of the 27th National Youth Festival, underway from January 12, celebrating the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanand. The second day of the festival, which saw folk dances, was inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Bharati Pawar. Artists from Uttar Pradesh showcased the festival of Holi through a melody of traditional music. “We presented the famous Lath-maar Holi played in the twin towns of Barsana, which belongs to Radha, and Nandgaon, which belongs to Lord Krishna,” said Sumit Sharma, part of the group that presented the show.Similarly, artists from Tripura and Andhra Pradesh took the audience on a tour of the harvesting season in their respective states. The team from Andhra Pradesh performed a traditional folk dance performed by tribals while cultivating paddy, presented by M. Bhavna Durga, A. Jyoti, M. Akhila, Y. Meena, M. Lakshmi Prasanna, and others.A team of Sushmita, Bimugdha, Urpita, and others presented the traditional wedding dance in Tripura. Inaugurating the second day of the festival, Bharati Pawar stressed the need to conserve the traditions that were depicted in folk dance as they formed the roots of civilization.