International dance festival begins in New Delhi

New Delhi, Aug 3 (ANI): The International Dance Festival showcasing traditional Indian dance performances by foreign artistes began here on Monday.

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) organized this dance festival for the first time.

Karan Singh, the president of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and Farooq Abdullah, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, inaugurated the festival with the lighting of the lamp.

"Such festivals will promote and strengthen the cultural ties with artists from other countries who are master in Indian traditional dances," said Abdullah.

"This shows that our culture is not only spread in here but in all corners of the country and all corners of the world," he added.

On the first day of the festival, an Odissi dance performance was given by the Ramli Ibrahim's group from Malaysia. Ibrahim is an acclaimed dancer, choreographer and artistic director of Sutra Dance Theatre.

" I am from the Guru Deva Prasad Parampara. This is a 'parampara' (tradition) that is unique to a certain extent; most of the items are Shaivite rather than Vaishnavite," said Ibrahim.

The artists from South Africa, Russia, Germany, China, Mauritius and Germany will give their interpretations of Indian classical dance in the festival.

The festival will conclude on Wednesday. (ANI)