TOURISM INDIA MARCH 2019 Tourism India January 2019 IA | Page 17
Justice (Retd) Mr. P Sathasivam prsenting the Nishagandhi Puraskaram to Mohiniyattam exponent Kalamandalam Kshemavathi ( Above) and inaugurating
the Nishagandhi dance Festival 2019 at Thiruvanathapuram. Ms.Rani George IAS, Secretary Tourism and Culture, Mr. M. Vijayakumar, Chairman, KTDC,
Mr. V K Prasanth, Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram city, Mr. Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Tourism, Kerala, Mr. K Muraleedharan MLA, Mr. V.K. Madhu,
District Panchayath President; and Mr. P Bala Kiran IAS, Director, Tourism are also seen
choreographer Dr Neena Prasad
followed.
The cultural extravaganza will see
the staging of a wide variety of genres
of Indian dance including Odissi,
Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Manipuri,
Mohiniyattam and Kuchipudi.
In the subsequent days, the festival
will have performances of Rashmi
Menon (Mohiniyattam), Christopher
Gurusamy, Aditya PV (Bharatanatyam),
Vyjayanthi Kashi (Kuchipudi),
Manjushree Panda (Odissi), T Reddi
Lakshi (Kuchipudi), Sudip Kumar
Ghosh& group (Manipuri), Namrrata
Raai (Kathak), Nrutya Naivedya
troupe (Gottipuva) Raminder Khurana
(Odissi) and Monisa Nayak & group
(Kathak).
This time, the festival will also
feature a Bharatanatyam performance
by transgender artist Dr Narthaki
Nataraj, in tune with the state
government’s policy of promoting
aspirations of artists without any
gender bias.
The Nishagandhi Dance Festival,
considered a premium tourism
product, is being conducted with the
support of sponsorships, minimising
the outgo from the state exchequer.
January 2019 Tourism India
15