Away from the audience, for most performing artistes, the past two years have been like a parched summer. Like the first showers of the season, for kathak exponent Uma Dogra, the return of her much-loved Raindrops Festival of Indian Classical Dance, in its physical avatar, brings with it a splash of euphoria. “The last two editions took place online. I’m so happy that we’re back to the physical format because performing artistes need the audience in front of them. That feeling of connecting with viewers cannot be replicated online,” the founder-director of SamVed Society for Performing Arts confesses, amid a rush of preparations for the festival that opens today.

Dimple Nair