Indo-Japanese Fest in Bhubaneswar kickstarts celebrations of 60 years of diplomatic ties

Bhubaneswar (Odisha), Dec. 3 (ANI): Bhubaneswar city is hosting Art Connection 2012, a cultural exchange platform between artistes of Odisha and Japan, as part of celebrations to mark 60 years of diplomatic relations between India and Japan.

The workshops included Butoh dance by Yuko Kominami at Mudra Foundation, documentary photography workshop, film making workshop Craft Art and Digital Camera, exhibition of craft art, videography and photography.

On the first day of the eight-day-long cultural extravaganza, the audience was left mesmerised by dance performances.

A Japanese artiste, Koyamosun, said: "The objective is that it is a pre-event of an organization, which will come up in Odisha in 2013. So, this year we have invited artistes from Japan and Europe to mix up with local artistes and create something new."

Siddharth Mohanty, an organiser, said: "This is an Indo-Japan art festival, which we are having for seven days. We are celebrating 60 years of Indo-Japan diplomatic relationship. This is basically to encourage visual and performing arts in Odisha. We want to make Odisha the epicentre of culture and art." (ANI)