Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh who was at Gaitey Theatre as a chief Guest on the concluding day of the three day Dance Festival here today was accorded a warm welcome by Additional Chief Secretary, Language, Art and Culture, Smt. Upma Chaudhry. The three day Dance Festival witnessed series of classical dances including Kathak, Bharatnattyam, Manipur, Oddissi and dances from other States.The theme of the Dance today was, ‘When the Gods Meet’ directed and choreographed by Dr. Sonal Mansingh for Indian Classical Dances Repertory Group, Delhi, displaying Lord Krishna’s battle with the serpent King ‘Kaliya’.
Speaking on the sidelines of the function the Chief Minister said that the ‘Sangeet Natak Academy’, New Delhi has been functioning as an apex body in the field of performing arts and preserving and promoting the intangible heritage of the vast perse Indian culture as similar to the State Department of Language, Art and Culture which keeps hosting such programmes.The Chief Minister said that the three days Dance festival at Shimla which was a part of the celebration of the completion of 150 years of the Shimla town and organized by the Department of language Art and Culture together with Sangeet Natak Academy New Delhi, he hoped, must have enthralled the visitors and the citizenry of the town.
Such festivals should be organized in a routine so that the people of the State could get a chance to watch the perse culture of the different states, he said.“We should conserve our cultural heritage and traditions as we are recognized and known by our culture which is a part and parcel of the people of the State” he said, adding that the efforts of the language Art and culture department was to be lauded for hosting series of such function since the beginning of this year.Additional Chief Secretary Shri Vineet Chaudhry, Principal Secretary Finance, Shri Srikant Baldi, Lieut General Shri Sachhar and his wife Smt. Dolly Sachhar, Deputy Commissioner, Shimla Shri Dinesh Malhotra, Superintendent of Police Shri D.W. Negi and other senior officers of the State Government were present on the occasion.