KATHMANDU: Enthralling dance performances, spellbinding theatrical shows and more — World Dance Day was celebrated with grandeur at City Hall, Exhibition Road on April 29.

Cultural group from Kolkata, India showcased different performances at the event organised by Indian Cultural Centre (ICC). And Nrityanjali, a Bharatnatyam dance performance was one of the attractions of the show.

The artistes also put forth a dance-drama Pratikshya — they showcased scenario of feticide in South Asia through few dialogues and classical dance performance.

A character named Siwani gets pregnant in the drama. The happy woman is pressurised by her in-laws to identify the child's gender. When her family finds out that she is pregnant with a girl child, they force her to abort that child. Siwani doesn’t agree to abort her child, but unfortunately gives birth to a dead child. The mother is devastated.

All these actions are portrayed in a classical dance form with few dialogues in between. At the end of the performance, the dancers come up on stage holding placards that read, 'Behind every successful woman is yourself', 'single wheel can't pull cart', et cetera.

And Ankita Das Gupta, who performed the role of Siwani, expressed, "Such practices of killing female foetus are wrong. And through our performance, we want to aware everyone, including the mother as well society."

The dance performance by ICC students on Saaraima Ramro Raichha, garnered audiences' applauds.

Impulse dance, choreographed by Kaushik Datta, was a fusion of modern and classical — five dancers put forth a classical dance in the tunes of modern music.

"As we celebrate the World Dance Day by performing all kinds of dance and music, I used modern music and classical dance form to compose this piece," Datta said.

Likewise, a contemporary dance entitled Gaze, choreographed by Sudharshan Chakraborty was performed with equal perfection.