Kathmandu:

It was a purely devotional evening. With all the dancers in ornate glittery attires, dancing to the bhajans (devotional songs) praising Lord Krishna, the ‘Lok Nritya Sandhya’ at Birendra International Convention Center, New Baneshwor, was an interesting place to be at on January 24. The programme was jointly organised by the Indian Council for Culture Relation, Indian Embassy, and BP Koirala Nepal-India Academy.

Organised on the occasion of 59th Republic day of India, the programme boasted of a performance by a troupe led by Murari Lal Sharma hailing from Brij, India, who didn’t fail to charm the audience with their lively performances.

The programme formally commenced with a welcome speech by the Indian Ambassador Shiv Shankar Mukherjee. Then the troupe began their performance with a bhajan, Brij Vandana. Then dancers came in colourful and glittering yellow and green attires to present their dance along with the songs. The performance was followed by yet another bhajan, Govinda Jaya Jaya, where a person dressed as Krishna came in and started singing and dancing.

Most interesting part of the programme was the ‘Mayur dance’ by a group of four. This dance is based on the love of Radha and Krishna where the latter expresses his love by taking the form of a peacock and dancing like it.

One of the major attractions of the programme was the Charkhula dance, where a woman balanced on her head 108 lighted oil lamps kept on wooden blocks in the shape of a pyramid. However, the length of the dance, which is performed on the third day after Holi, had been shortened while the audience kept asking for more.

Another performance that was also much appreciated was the Holi dance. The audience went into raptures when the person enacting Krishna balanced a rotating plate filled with flower petals. Later, all the performers started showering petals on the audience and even brought the chief guests to the stage to dance.