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