A FIA Afreen Appi, came all the way from Rajshahi to attend the festival. She won the first prize of creative dance in the countrywide talent search programme that Nrityanchal organised. Her wish is to become a famous dancer of the country. Her proud mother standing beside her said, 'I wanted her to become a dancer from her very childhood.' Appi, who is a student of class X, was very happy to join the festival. She said, 'I learned so many things from the other children and gathered a lot of experiences too.'

Nrityanchal organised a two-daylong dance festival at the Shishu Academy Auditorium on June 4 and 5. On the beginning day of the festival when the curtain raised before the audience, the children were seen dancing with lamps in their hands and singing Tumi nirmol karo mongol kare. After this, the prize giving ceremony of the talent search was held.Chief guest eminent artist Mustafa Monwar gave away the medals, crests and certificates to the winners. In the talent search there were three basic categories where the children all over the country participated--classical, folk and creative dance.

Almost 203 children participated in the final programme and 65 children won the prizes.

After prize giving, the guests and the directors of Nrityanchal spoke at the occasion. Director Shamim Ara

Neepa said, 'This festival is extraordinary because we promote the artistes from all over the contry."'

Special guest S A A Mashrur of

Standard Chartered Bank, the sponser of the festival, said in his speech, 'We are proud of our culture, which is very rich and diverse. But it is unfortunate that we are drifting away from our culture, which should be resisted at all cost.

Media personality Muhammad Jahangir and Nrityanchal director Shibli Mohammad spoke at the evening as well.

The ever first performance of the festival was a group folk dance where there was a flower against the blue background of the stage. The joyful children were dancing in their pink dresses, when they were making a wave they were greatly applauded by the audience. A little girl was sitting inside the flower and her companions took her in front of the audience. The boys were creating mudras and they were shown in silhoutte. Little Khaleda Sultana performed a folk dance with the song Ami Takdum Takdum bajai Bangladesher dhol.

A little girl Megla from Barisal performed a creative dance with the Tagore song Tora je ja bolish Bhai. Fifa Chakma of Rangamati performed a tribal dance with a bottle on her head, two plates in her hands and stood on a kolshi. A group dance of the Bharatnatyam was performed by the winners of classical dance. All their gorgeous dresses were in red and gold. Appi of Barisal performed the dance with the poem of Nazrul, Bidrohi and Rachel performed a creative dance with the song Jago nari jago bonhishikha. The classical dance winners of Kathhak performed a group classical dance where they were wearing all white dress with colourful scarfs. These little artistes were introduced by Shibli Mohammad. It was a pleasant experience to watch such an extraordinary performance by highly talented children.