Lezginka, a dance ensemble from the highlands of Dagestan in southern Russia, took the stage at Rabindra Sadan on Wednesday to kick off the Kolkata leg of the Festival of Russian Culture in India.
The festival, organised by the Russian Federal State Budgetary Institution of Culture Rosconcert, with support from the ministry of culture of the Russian Federation and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, will feature two more performances — the musical ensemble Terem-Quartet and the state Cossack song ensemble Krinitsa, on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
The performances are open to public.
“This is the first bilateral cultural exchange with India after the pandemic. Our group from Russia consists of 50 people,” Svetlana Kondratyeva, deputy director general of Rosconcert, told The Telegraph.
“Culture is always above politics,” she added when asked to comment on whether the festival was timed to project the cultural face of Russia amid the country’s military operation against Ukraine.
The festival opened in Delhi on Monday and will travel to Mumbai next.
In Kolkata, the opening was attended by Russian consul general Alexey Idamkin, minister Shashi Panja and Minakshi Mishra, the ICCR zonal head.