Khajuraho Dance Festival
Classical Indian dance against temple backdrops
Significance
Started in 1975 to showcase the link between Khajuraho's sculpted dancers and India's living classical dance forms. The stone apsaras seem to move in sync with the performers.
A week of classical dance — Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kuchipudi — performed under open skies in front of the UNESCO-listed Khajuraho temples. A dancer's pilgrimage.
First-time visitor
Start with the opening night at the Western Group of temples — the floodlit Kandariya Mahadev is unforgettable.
What to see
- Nightly classical performances under floodlit temples
- Morning workshops with visiting maestros
Festival foods
Best for
Travel tips
- 1Carry a shawl — open-air seating gets cold after 9 PM
- 2Front-row seats book out first; reserve online
Never miss a festival
Want to hear about every event in Madhya Pradesh?
Subscribe to Madhya Pradesh or to the full Cultural category — we'll nudge you at 90, 30, 7 and 1 days before each begins. Tune it off anytime from the bell in the header.
Explore Further
Linked places, stories and categories
Linked destination
Khajuraho Temples
Madhya Pradesh
Hindu and Jain temples in the nagara style, known for the dense symbolism worked into every carved surface.
Visit pageMore festivals
Festival calendar — Madhya Pradesh
Every cultural event we track in Madhya Pradesh, sorted by date.
Browse by statePlaces
All destinations in Madhya Pradesh
Curated places, rituals and hidden gems across the state.
Explore Madhya PradeshCategory
More cultural festivals
Every cultural event across India in one list.
See all CulturalFrom the YatraJunction journal
Madhya Pradesh · 11 min read
Khajuraho: A Thousand Years of Stone That Still Whispers
Twenty temples in a sleepy Madhya Pradesh village, carved with 27,000 figures of gods, dancers, warriors and lovers. What the Chandela kings built across 200 years — and why no one has matched it since.
Madhya Pradesh · 8 min read
Bhimbetka: India's Oldest Art Gallery, Painted 30,000 Years Before the Taj
Long before the Mughals. Before the Mauryas. Before anyone planted a seed in central India, a hunter in the Vindhya foothills dipped a finger in red ochre and dragged it across sandstone. Seven hundred and fifty caves later, the gallery has not closed.
Madhya Pradesh · 14 min read
The Twelve Jyotirlingas: India's Pillars of Light
From the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal, from 3,583-metre Kedarnath to the sand-linga at Rameswaram. The twelve sites where Shiva is said to have manifested as light — and three sub-circuits that compress the 21-day yatra into a working pilgrim's calendar.
Questions & Answers
About Khajuraho Dance Festival
Khajuraho Dance Festival 2027 is scheduled for 20–26 Feb 2027. That's 251 days from today.
You may also like
More festivals in Madhya Pradesh
