Nishagandhi Dance Festival - Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

Nishagandhi Dance Festival or Nishagandhi Nritya Utsav is held in the month of October and March in the city of Trivandrum. This dance festival is held in Nishagandhi Theatre, in Kanakunnu palace compound. Nishagandhi open-air theatre in the palace compound holds a dance festival every year; renowned artists perform various dances and other arts like Bharathanatyam, Mohiniyattam, Kathak, Odissi, modern ballet and other folk forms.

Artists and connoisseurs of various dance forms from all over India come to enjoy and participate in this cultural treat. The festival is organised by the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation and is free for everybody Nishagandhi dance festival is usually accompanied with classical music. It gives a people of various backgrounds a fascinating glimpse of India's rich dance heritage. Year after year this festival is becoming more and more prestigious, culturally as more and more famous and renowned artists have started to look forward for participation in this event. The diverse Indian cultural heritage and the artists who are promoting this heritage are an integral part of the Nishagandhi Dance Festival. The Nishagandhi open-air theatre in the palace compound holds a dance festival every year. Renowned dancers perform Bharathanatyam, Mohiniyattam, Kathak, Odissi, modern ballet and other folk forms. Artist and connoisseurs of dance from all over India come to enjoy this cultural treat. The festival organised by the Tourism Development Corporation is free and is usually accompanied with music. It gives a fascinating glimpse of India's rich dance heritage. This trophy named as the late Prime Minister of INDIA Jawaharlal Nehru to the winners of the first boat race, which was an impromptu one, donated NEHRU TROPHY conducted in 1952 in honour of Panditji who visited Alappuzha. This aquatic festival fosters a sense of unity and fraternity and sports man spirit event and attaching foreign tourists also. In the year 1952, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru visited the erstwhile Travancore-Cochin. On his way to Alleppey from Kottayam the people of Alleppey, escorted by the huge snake-boats, gave him a roaring reception. Having gone through the tremendous excitement of sailing in a snake-boat popularly known as Chundan, Jawaharlal Nehru donated a rolling trophy to be awarded to the winner. The trophy is a replica of a snake-boat in silver, placed on wooden abacus on which the following words of Panditji are inscribed above his signature.