The annual Konark Festival kicked off against the backdrop of the historic Sun Temple with the presentation of Vande Mataram by a group of young Odishi dancers, while sand artists made sculptures on the theme of climate change at the International Sand Art Festival 2015 near here on Tuesday evening.

The performers danced to the Odishi rhythm with the music set to the national song written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee underlining respect for the motherland that held the audience in thrall. The artists of Bhubaneswar-based Srjan, founded by late Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, also presented Pallavi and Ardhanarishwar, marking the opening presentations of the five-day festival of classical dances of India. The second presentation on the first evening of the festival was Manipuri dance by artistes of Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy.

While hundreds of dance lovers and tourists enjoyed the festival with an illuminated Sun Temple standing tall at about 100 metres, about 200 visitors thronged the sand art festival.

The sand art festival, an equally unique event in Odisha that is being held simultaneously with the Konark Festival, has attracted as many as 49 participants, including four artists from other countries. Among the participants are two differently-abled persons and 12 women.

The first day’s theme coincided with the ongoing climate meet in Paris. The artists fashioned sand sculptures conveying different messages related to conservation of nature to fighting climate change.

“Warm the Earth, with Love,” was the message carved on a sand sculpture created by Sue McGrew, a professional sand artist from the US. Her sculpture depicted the face of a woman symbolising Mother Earth, making the message loud and clear.

“Climate change is a very important issue. Everyone should love nature and fight climate change,” the 30-year-old artist said.

The second day’s theme will be historic monuments, while the third, fourth and fifth days will feature Swachh Bharat, Diversity and World Peace respectively, according to Sudarsan Pattnaik, well-known sand artist and brand ambassador of the sand art festival.

The remaining four days of the dance festival will host performances of different dance forms , including Sattriya, Odishi, Kuchipudi, Bharatanatyam and Kathak.