All about the Khajuraho festival of dance 2025

The 51st year of the iconic Khajuraho festival of dance, 2025 (virtually the Mahakumbh of dance), held at the site of the Nagara-style Kandariya Mahadev temple in Madhya Pradesh, featuring curvilinear spires (shikharas), ornate platforms (jagatis), and interconnected spaces, was a cultural extravaganza to delight art lovers.

- TAPATI CHOWDHURIE

This year the festival was unique for quite a few reasons. It has found its place in the Guinness Book of World Records for having 139 dancers performing different classical dance forms for 24 hours, 9 minutes and 26 seconds, coordinated by impresario Pratyush Puru Dadhich of the great Dadhich family. Its celebratory performance called 'Anant' was conceptualised and composed by percussionist Kaushik Basu, while the dance was choreographed by Kathak dancer Prachee Shah Paandya, assisted by Avinav Mukherjee.

Besides Anant Khajuraho, Bal Mahotsav was organised for the first time by the Department of Culture of Madhya Pradesh this year with the support of the state's premier Natavari Kathak Nritya Academy of Indore. 15 classical dancers between the age bracket of 10 and 16 were selected out of 330 applicants to perform. It provided a great impetus for youngsters to pursue art, either to be a rasika or to be a practitioner. 'Pranam' was a one-off presentation on the contributions of Dr Padma Subramaniam's lifetime work showcased in an exhibition; lectures by scholars and Padma Subramaniam herself. Madhya Pradesh left no stone unturned to disseminate knowledge of Bharata Nritya and its founder's toil. For those present, Dr Padma Subramaniam opened a window for examining our deep cultural heritage.