Cultural Programmes by Local and Mainland Artists Attract Large Crowd

Port Blair, Nov 6: The much longed for ‘Islands Tourism Festival – 2019’ has commenced from today at the ITF grounds. Due to inclement weather conditions, the formal inaugural ceremony was postponed. Yet a large number of tourists and general public had thronged the ITF Grounds to have a glimpse of the cultural programme and the number of stalls put up by the Administration and private entrepreneurs. Altogether 36 stalls have been put up at the ITF venue out of which 6 stalls have put up by different Departments and 9 stalls are of cuisines.

Cultural programme were presented by the artistes of Eastern Zonal Cultural Center, South Zonal Cultural Centre besides artistes from these Islands. The ten-day festival is being organized by the Tourism Department, A&N Administration.

The cultural programme commenced with a Nicobari Dance on the theme ‘nature’, ‘people’ and ‘Island of Nicobar’, which. This was followed by presentation by the Octave choreography team comprising of 7 North Eastern States. The non-stop fusion of cultural dance presented by the artistes of all the 7 states one after the other enthralled the audience present at the venue. The ‘Bihu’ and ‘Naga’ dances stole the show of the Octave Choreography. The North Eastern States that performed included Sikkim, Meghalaya, Assam, Nagaland, Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram.

Later, the artistes of Sursaptak, Ecstasea Musical group and Lakshya Musical group presented musical programmes. Besides, creative dance by artistes of Saphaire Creations West Bengal and classical dance by Balakrishna Nritya Academy was also enjoyed by the gathering. 

Apart from the Islanders and the tourists from mainland, foreign tourists were seen enjoying the cultural programme at the venue. Cultural programmes will also be held at the Flag Point during the ten day festival. Besides, various other activities such as a floating restaurant-cum-bar, delicious food courts stalls of attractive handicrafts, ‘Hasya Kavi Samelan’, Rangoli & Flower Shows by Agriculture Department and 'Dog Show' by the Department of Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Services, A&N Administration, fun games for children are also available.