Rabindra Jayanti celebrates the birth anniversary of Nobel laureate, poet, scholar, novelist, playwright, humanist and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore. It’s an annual tribute where cultural programmes and events are planned across the globe to hail his rich legacy. This year, in the third edition of National Centre for the Performing Arts’ (NCPA) Celebrating Tagore, three dance groups will reflect on the poet’s deep connection with dance and interpret some of his most celebrated works.

“Tagore is probably the only poet who has given rise to a dance form — Rabindra nritya. In odissi and bharatanatyam, usually, we perform texts by different poets. Rabindra nritya is a modern dance form that uses exclusive literary texts by a poet who thought about dance,” says Swapnokalpa Dasgupta, head of dance at NCPA and the curator of this event.