Bhubaneswar: For the very first time, a pan-European Odissi Dance Festival is being held spread
across two largest European cities. The four-day Europe Odissi Festival will begin
on 21st May at the iconic Garbattela Theatre in Rome, the cultural capital of Europe.
The festival being held by the Europe-based GCP Performing Arts Centre in asso-
ciation with Odisha-based OYSS will be held at two of Europe’s largest cities & cul-
tural nerve centres, the Italian capital city of Rome & Spanish capital city of Madrid
spanning four days in May & June 2022.
The festival is being organized under the leadership of UN Diplomat Baisali Mohanty
who founded the Oxford Odissi Centre at Oxford University in 2015 and heads the
GCP Performing Arts Centre. Well-known Italian dance exponent Silvia Vona who
is the Europe Coordinator of GCP Performing Arts is the co-convenor of the festival.
The Indian Embassy in Italy & Spain are supporting partner for the festival.
The festival is scheduled to be attended by several European leaders, parliamen-
tarians, celebrities and diplomats.
All dance choreographies has been composed on the festival theme ’Art for Peace’
with an underlying message of global peace. It will feature live performance by
renowned Odissi dancers from both India & Europe including Padma Shri Ileana
Citaristi, Guru Rina Jana (Kolkata), Ganga Devi Sheth, Dr Elana Catalano (London),
Lipsa Satpathy, Silvia Vona, Baisali Mohanty, Karine Leblanc (France), Shilpa
Bertuletti and their troupes.
Apart from live dance performances, the festival will also include live Odissi work-
shops and exhibition on the history of Odissi dance and Odisha.
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