Mangalore: A 3-day festival of Yakshagana Dance Drama will be inaugurated at Gunavanthe open auditorium as on Jan 22 to 24, 2011 under the direction of Keremane Shivarama Hegde who conducts Idgunji Mahaganapathi yakshgana troupe, from 4 pm onwards.
This troupe has been quite famous in folk art and costume dramas based on Puranic (hoary) themes since several decades in Honnavara taluk, Uttara Kannada Dt. Yakshagana sculptures will be unveiled and a souvenir on Yakshagana will be published on the occasion, Shivarama Hegde stated in a press conference in city here on Tuesday. Education Minister Kageri, famed danseuse Maya Rao and Dr. U.R. Ananthamurthy are expected to participate in the festival.
It is the second such annual folk dance festival planned for rural and other art lovers of Yakshagana. Shivarama Hegde is carrying on the great traditions of the Kannada folk art of his well-known father, Keremane Shambhu Hegde, who took his dance troupes abroad and all over India. The troupe has given fillip to Indian historic and age-old themes, lest younger generations should forget them.
Dr. V.S.Acharya, minister of higher education will inaugurate the Natyotsava in Jan.22, 2011 in the presence of several distinguished persons such as Dharmadarshi Harikrishna Punarooru, MP Ananth Hegde Asheesara, Capt. Ganesh Karnik(MLC) among others.