Mudiyettu and Shaurya Raas & Maniyaro take centre stage at this festival

Aurangabadkars

were taken aback with a series of dance events and discussions as the event Sarngadeva Samaroh organised by dancer

Parwati Dutta

at Mahagami Gurukul in Aurangabad recently. Showcasing the traditional and lesser known dances of India, some of the performances that the audience witnessed was

Nat Sankirtan

from Manipur,

Gayan Bayan

from Assam, Buddhist chanting by monks from Karnataka among others.

The four day long festival on its third day saw

Mudiyettu

from Kerala performed by K S Unnikrishnan and Group. Artists dressed up with vibrantly decorated headgears, costumes and makeup performed to the thunderous beats of the traditional percussion instruments. The elaborative make up created emphasis on the act while the dialogues were rendered in the form of a musical. The intense interactions between

Bhadrakali

and the demons Darika and Dhanavendran made for a dramatic performance, especially when they interacted with the audience while performing amidst them.

Another interesting performance that kept the audience hooked was Shaurya Raas and

Maniyaro

from Gujarat presented by Raaga Cultural Group of Performing Art of Gandhi Nagar. Men dressed in traditional attire holding dandiya weaved complex choreographic formations in a circle, and danced to songs accompanied by several musical instruments. It was sight for all as they basked into all the performances that evening.

Pictures by Mahagami, Aurangabad.